Fresh from the success of her portrayal of Desiree Armfeldt in the stage musical A Little Night of Music, Dawn Zulueta is now focusing on promoting the first project of her Kahit Hindi Pasko Foundation.

Founding a charity organization was Dawn's longtime dream, but it was only last year that she finally got around to actually establishing one.

"Ever since kasi I started off in the business, I already made that promise to myself that I would always set aside for charity. Something that I didn't consider my money, I considered it money for giving away, and I've been doing that ever since.

"Until a few years back someone had suggested it to me, 'You keep doing this [charity] anyway, regularly, why don't you just set up a foundation which would really do just that?'

"So I said, 'Well yeah, okay,' so I decided to come up with foundation called Kahit Hindi Pasko," Dawn related to PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal) in an interview last October 27 at Xin Tian Dee restaurant of the Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila Hotel in Quezon City.

The foundation is not zeroing in on a particular segment of society, said Dawn: "We try to help where we can: anything, anyone, and everywhere. So we can be for the environment, we can be for children, we can be for women—wherever help is needed.

"It just so happens that right now, our focus is mainly going to be children and women—for their welfare, medical needs, and education."

NATIONAL ARTISTS. Kahit Hindi Pasko's maiden endeavor is a DVD collection of prose and poetry written by some of the country's National Artists, complemented with attractive visuals.

The project, which is titled Tulay, is Dawn's brainchild, together with personal manager Vivian Recio and creative director Ding Fernandez.

It was also Fernandez who suggested incorporating the works of National Artists into the project, like Levi Celerio ("Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit," "Ang Pipit," "Bakya Mo Neneng," "Namamasko")...

Jose Garcia-Villa ("Centepede Sonnet," "First, A Poem Must Be Magical," "I Have Observed Pink Monks Eating Blue Raisins," "My Portrait Is Not My Face," "Observe Me, I Do Not Speak")...

Carlos P. Romulo ("I Am A Filipino"); Nick Joaquin ("The Fish"); and Rio Alma ("Mas Matalino Ang Tubig," "Sari-Saring Bisa," "The Parliament of Giraffes").

Children's storybook author and Palanca Hall-of-Fame awardee Dr. Luis Gatmaitan also contributed a short story especially for the project titled, "Ang Lihim Sa Bodega Ni Paolo."

CELEBRITIES. To make Tulay more marketable, Dawn asked fellow celebrities to participate in the special project by lending their voices to give life to the chosen material.

"Actually, all the names that you see there, it didn't need a lot of convincing. The minute I sent them my letter of invitation, they said yes," Dawn recalled with a smile.