This New Year 2023 came in full of big expectations for FBM Foundation and its volunteers. After the announcement of the Bayanihan para sa kababayan program, a new mission emerges to help Filipino youngsters to thrive under better scholarly contexts. The first solidarity initiative took place last week in Tanay, Rizal (a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon), to overcome COVID-19 limitations, and more are to come throughout the year.
Four months of hard work set the path to a long FBM Foundation project, which will serve Filipino populations in January, April, August and November of 2023. Providing young Filipinos with the adequate resources to level up their learning conditions is a major step towards building a better future for these populations.
To celebrate the ‘International Day of Education’ on January 24th, the first activity chosen to boost the Building a Champion by a Champion program supported over 600 students whose development got compromised by the Coronavirus outbreak, at the Camp Mateo Capinpin Elementary School in Tanay, Rizal.
Apart from health-related side effects worldwide, the negative consequences that came with the pandemic were also felt by Filipino communities on what education is concerned, with several activities being frozen or canceled. Even though the students at the Camp Mateo Capinpin Elementary School are back to face-to-face classes, there’s still a lot to recover from and the FBM Foundation could not be indifferent to these struggles.
That’s why last January 27th, 650 young students from kindergarten to grade 6 were aided by 15 FBM Foundation Champions with the donation of school supplies and cleaning materials. For this planned action, notebooks, writing pads, ballpens, pencils, and colors to paint and glue were distributed. The school facility also received a TV monitor, a printer with a scan and photocopy, bundles of bond paper, monoblock chairs, facemasks, detergents, disinfectant sprays, insect killers and alcohol. The donation of these goods goes well beyond the simple teaching side of things. It intends to establish and promote a comfortable, safe space to these students by providing them with the basic resources they need to stay inspired and motivated while learning different subjects.
The Building a Champion by a Champion program has four activities scheduled for this year. Initiatives like the ones promoted in this project are specially targeted for young generations affected by social and economic difficulties, and hope to facilitate the development of these children while growing a better future.
Vitor Francisco, Director of FBM Foundation, declared: “Education is and will always be the major force to overcome hardship, and it is a sector often neglected in most societies. If we, as FBM Foundation, can support these communities with actions that deeply push transformative academic change, won’t think twice about it. We will be there.”