PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan- With the global "new normal" life of the people brought about by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, a lot of people have found it very difficult to provide for the daily needs of their families, as well as have access to education.
To ease the difficulties and provide some help to the Palawenyo learners during pandemic, a group of Palaweños called the Palawan Savers Club (PSC) launched its crowd funding project dubbed "Piso Mo, Pag-Asa Ko: Project Abot-Kamay” that aims to raises community support for Palawenyo Learners.
The project aims to help students and teachers to adjust and be able to study under the distance learning program of the Department of Education (DepEd) for school year 2020-2021.
May Aldritt, project coordinator of Project Abot Kamay, said the project basically wanted to fill and bridge the gap created by the pandemic for the learners and teachers to be able to cope up with school work “one peso at a time”.
She said that the project has raised P501,031.16 in a period of two weeks that will be used to provide face masks, face shields, and ethyl/isopropyl alcohol to teachers in Palawan.
“In Palawenyo Savers Club, saving doesn’t start big. It starts small — pa piso-piso. And with each peso saved diligently, it can grow and make a difference. And we think that it’s something we can replicate with Project Abot-Kamay,” Aldritt said.
Any individual, organization, or business willing to help out public school students and teachers in Palawan would be welcome to donate until September 30.
PSC vows to match half of all monetary donations received. For example, if P100 is received, PSC will donate P50.00, bringing the donations to a total of P150.
“That’s why we invite everyone to help Project Abot-Kamay and donate, kahit piso lang. Dahil ang bawat pisong malilikom natin ay makakatulong magbigay ng pag-asa sa mga mag-aaral na Palawenyo," Aldritt said.
Meanwhile, recipients may submit applications through the “Piso-Piso Aasenso” Facebook page, and will be subject to validation upon submission of information and evaluation of their essay entries.
PSC also assured full transparency for the donors through a publish report of all donations received by the initiative every Wednesday on its official website and Facebook page, including donor's name, amount and date of donation.
The project was activated through local partners in Puerto Princesa and social media.