Hope to build 28th classroom from water sales

MANILA, Philippines – A company that uses all its profits from bottled water sales to build classrooms where they are needed most is about to deliver its 28th classroom after only three years of operation.

“There is an opportunity to do more, if we could be carried by more outlets,”  said Nanette Medved-Po, Friends of Hope founder.

The latest six classrooms, 63 square meters each with its own toilet, will be built for more than 300 students who had been holding classes under a shed at the extension unit of the General Santos City National Secondary School for the Arts and Trade in Lagao village in Mindanao.

The six classrooms will comprise all the classrooms at this school. “The principal heroically tried to raise some money in an attempt to provide the children with a safe place to learn but a shed with only two walls was all they could afford,” said Medved-Po.

So Hope and Vita Coco, the US market leader in coconut water, stepped in. Vita Coco contributed funds for the two classrooms; Hope funded the remaining four.

“These will be the first real classrooms at this school. We were told that while construction was on going, the students would excitedly come to touch the walls before classes began each morning,” said Medved-Po.

Hope was formed in March 2012.  So far, it has built 28 classrooms in eight schools.

“We’re not a charity. We are a business. The only difference is that when you buy Hope water, we commit 100 percent of our profits to nation building, to building classrooms in public schools that need them most.” said Medved-Po.

Hope has so far sold over 4 million bottles with the help of corporate partners like Starbucks, 7-11, Krispy Kreme, CBTL, UCC, Seattles Best and SEDA Hotels among others.