Spare some change?

ILOILO City, Philippines — There’s a fast-moving altruistic campaign in Iloilo that hopes to develop all 1,100 neglected public schools in the province, simply by taking an extra P5 from your restaurant bill. Meaning, they hope you don’t mind sparing just five bucks for these children making do in ramshackle schools. After all, you did pay an incredible amount for that dish that maybe didn’t have to cost so much.

The movement is called 1Meal, a non-profit organization that, in collaboration with 42 different restaurants in Iloilo, has been able to raise awareness rallying for decent public education by tapping the private sector. Within six months, coupled with the initiative and generosity of cooperative local diners of course, 1Meal has helped a total of 16 public schools and fed 250 hungry bellies. And they’re just getting started.

Businesswoman Nene Chan and son Enrique Sola, along with a group of dedicated women, are taking schools’ wish lists and attempting to tick off as many items as they can — sort of like a year-long Santa Claus. “Every time we approach a school, we would ask for wish lists of 10 items, and we try to fulfill as many as them as possible,” says Enrique humbly. From water pipes, to new ceilings, to repairing classrooms and even renovating sewage systems, 1Meal, has been so successful in their objectives, nothing really seems implausible at the moment. With the great response from diners around the city, not even a figure like “1,000 more public schools to go” is frazzling.

Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close

Walk this way: 1Meal provides slippers to the students of Calahunan Elementary and La Paz Elementary school.

Enrique, 26, who has been fortunate in his childhood, feels extremely passionate about this cause because he was raised in a family that believed in their role to give back. He says while children can do with the basic material needs, they also need to be given a reason to strive for bigger things. “We believe that if you give them a reason to dream, then they will aspire to get out of their situation. They won’t feel the need to grow unless there is reason.”

The idea started when Enrique and his mom were dining in a restaurant in South Africa, strewn with fliers for a project called Street Smart. The restaurant charged an additional five rand (P30) on their bill, which they were then informed would go to the housing and schooling of street children in South Africa.

But because his mother Nene, a veteran philanthropist, was not content with the not-so-long-lasting experience of people in rehabilitation, they both decided education would be the best investment. And for many Filipinos, education is a key out of poverty.

Aside from making the schools a better environment for learning, 1Meal also ensures children are in the perfect condition to be studying. “Now we have a daily feeding program for 250 students. This means we take care of them every single day until they reach high school,” Enrique says optimistically, explaining that the feeding program is a community effort. Housewives from each community who spend idle time at home are called to come together to cook for their own children. “They’re happy because they get to see their own children eating well,” says Enrique.

“The only way our country can really improve,” he adds, “is if our young would step up. It’s not going to come from the people who are currently in government. We can’t continue living like brats. It has to come from us.” He relates the story of a little girl whose only Christmas wish was a sturdy plastic bowl to eat out of. “Here, we’re talking about iPads, laptops, a new cell phone… but for them, a P20 bowl is a luxury. I’m not saying we should stop buying luxury items. It’s good that people can afford those things. But we also have to give back to our community when we can.”

1Meal continues its goal of ensuring Ilonggo children will be provided quality education, and hopes that the movement will inspire people of different regions to do the same. The movement relies heavily of course on the general public to be moved by the cause, and to voluntarily not mind paying an extra P5.

With the abundance of dining places in Manila, it seems this is something that should have started a long time ago. I’m hinting, of course.

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Check out http://1meal.tumblr.com/ or search 1Meal on Facebook to get updates on their projects.

Keeping the dream alive

MANILA, Philippines — Meanwhile, in the heart of the metropolitan, a crowded government hospital with over 6,000 pediatric patients from the poorest of the poor are born to substandard conditions. The students from a Business Communication class at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business (AGSB) launched a campaign, “Keeping the Dream Alive” which seeks to raise funds to provide additional equipment for the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), hopefully enough to purchase two incubators and 16 pediatric hospital beds, totaling P1.6 million.

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Visit http://www.facebook.com/keepingkidsalive for more information on how to help “Keeping the dream Alive.”