DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan , Philippines s – Marlyn Joy Samson, a grade 1 student at the West Central Elementary School (WCES) here, will celebrate her 12th birthday on July 15 with something she’s never had before – a pair of shoes.
She received her advanced birthday present from energy drink Milo the other day when Milo Sports executives Andrew Neri and Pat Goc-Ong came here to award 200 new pairs of rubber shoes to selected pupils of WCES.
“Maganda (It’s nice),” Joy said, putting on her shoes.
When she joined the 3-kilometer marathon sponsored by Milo last year, she ran barefoot and placed sixth among many participants of her age in that sports event.
Joy told The STAR that it’s her first time to go to school and, despite her age, she does not feel awkward because her classmates treat her kindly.
The fifth among six siblings, Joy’s mother Angeline works as a nanny here while her father Randy is a part-time carpenter and takes care of them when work is not available.
She said she wants to develop her skills as an athlete so that she would be a superstar runner someday.
Milo’s Neri told The STAR that all the 18 legs of Milo Marathon nationwide will have chosen school beneficiaries for their shoes project.
The Milo Marathon kicked off last July 4 in Manila and the first beneficiary was Bonifacio Memorial Elementary School which received 400 pairs of shoes. The marathon will end on Dec. 12 in the national finals in Manila and by that time, about 4,000 pairs of shoes would had been given to selected recipients.
Recipients are those who had participated in past Milo Marathons from different public schools who were chosen by raffle.
He said with about 200,000 targeted runners nationwide, they were able to raise funds for the 4,000 pairs of shoes. About P5 of each runner’s registration fee goes to this project. The shoes are custom-made in China.
In Dagupan today, about 10,000 runners are expected to join the marathon.
Neri said this is the first advocacy of Milo to help underprivileged school children with their sports needs and their schooling.
He said this run-for-a-cause advocacy does not only come from Milo alone but from all the runners who contribute to this project.