This article's title doesn’t only refer to someone sharing memories of what they’ve done in the past, but it’s also about imbibing a culture of sharing whenever the holiday season comes around, and making that sharing a central theme of our narrative.
In other words, it can be a verb and it can be the subject. "Sharing" is a time-honored tradition of SM that stretches back to its founder, Henry Sy Sr., and his memorable quote of, "I always believed that if we do well, we must also do something to help others in society."
October is the founding month of the SM Store, and it is the birth month of Tatang. In 2021, SM began institutionalizing the month as the SM Super Month, with AweSM stories of giving back. And this is something that employees, customers, partners, and the communities, that SM serve, can all participate in and set by example. This spirit of volunteerism and sharing form the core of the inspirational AweSM stories, and demonstrate how SM joins hands with all its stakeholders in embracing this gift of sharing.
The SM Store has its quarterly corporate social responsibility programs, from sharing shoes, toys, extras, or donating books. There is already a rich history of AweSM stories that encompasses support from customers, the SM staff, and institutional partners.
At SM Store Iloilo, the customer service team led by Manager Fatima Lance have been conducting community medical missions along with St. Paul Hospital. In 2019, Sister Arcilita Sarnillo invited SM Iloilo to participate. And beyond the medical items, when the customer service team saw the number of children in said missions, a supplementary Share-A-Toy campaign was initiated. Seeing the joy in the faces of the children-beneficiaries, SM Iloilo expanded the program to shoppers. This is how regular customers Katya Delgado and Camille Zamora got involved, eventually becoming working partners in joint community outreach programs.
Katya was also supported by SM in a Donate-A-Book campaign. A few years ago, this resulted in Katya distributing collected books and notebooks to more than 400 students of Barangay Balcon Maravilla on Guimaras Island.
Camille has been sourcing supplies for her online business from SM Iloilo’s delivery service. A founder of the Antique Trail Runners (ATR), she relayed to the Store staff her outreach activities with the indigenous tribes in the mountain area of Tarisa Tapis in Antique. Joining hands with Camille and seven members of the ATR is a five-man team from SM Iloilo. Together, they distributed around 300 toys, as well as food, to the Tina tribe on Jan. 15 of this year.
This kind of sharing synergy is replicated in SM Store branches throughout the country. In the SM Store Davao, customer Liezle Pinongcos established a working relationship with Customer Service Representive Gillian Nantes. In May 2022, through the family ministry of Liezle, the SM Store donated relief goods, noodles and candles to more than 2,000 beneficiaries. These recipients lived in Dinagat Island and were still recovering from the effects of Typhoon Odette, which had hit them five months earlier.
It’s this working together, customers and staff, that help make these initiatives so rewarding—and so much in the spirit of what Tatang was espousing. Through these partnerships, even far flung areas reap the benefit of this spirit and system of sharing. And what’s nice to note is that these aren’t one-shot deals. Liezle has another activity involving 1,000 students of Barangay Manawang Elementary and High School in Davao later this month of October.
Katya, with SM Store helping her magnify the scope and reach of her programs, has helped typhoon victims of Unisan Island in Guimaras, and remote farming communities in San Remigio, Antique. As for Camille and her ATR club, there’s a gift giving activity set for December this year.
As Camille was gushing to say, "though SM is a big company, it has the heart to help smaller groups like the ATR. We used to be just customers, but now we partner with them for events." Its customer service that goes beyond the point of sales—and the result is a bigger community of employees and shoppers who share a common vision of serving those in need.
"In truth, what the SM Store does, is not just encourage this culture of sharing, but actively assists and facilitates this sharing to happen in a more meaningful manner. As long as you have the desire, SM will be there to make your dream of sharing that much bigger and real. It’s our Bayanihan Spirit in action, and given a platform upon which it can be expressed," ended Corporate Communications SM Retail's Vice President Cathy Ileto.