ANGELES CITY — Schooled as they are in the Jesuit calling of being “men for others,” the Ateneo Blue Eagles–Pampanga (ABE-P) together with the students and alumni of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business in Clark (AGSB-Clark) recently launched relief operations and a fundraising campaign through “Tulong ABE” to help cabalens in different communities cope with the hardships wrought by the enhanced community quarantine.
According to Dr. Neenia Tecson-Tan, AGSB-Clark students and alumni organization board of trustee, Tulong ABE is a joint project of the members of the ABE-P which started amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Tan said the group initially distributed PPEs, face masks, and face shields, as well as food to the medical frontliners including the police and military at the border checkpoints.
ABE-P also initiated an online invitation to volunteers to adopt a family through Facebook to influence and motivate others to help smaller communities such as a family through simple in-kind donations.
Following the success of the adopt-a-family program, ABE-P launched adopt-a-community campaign dubbed “Tinape para keka ABE”. The aim is to distribute breads and baked rolls by collaborating with different local bakeries from their communities to reach out and help more families.
“Initially it was just a Facebook challenge since we are trying to raise funds and motivate people to adopt a family or help from small communities like donating food or money. But because most of us have our own projects and programs in helping in this time of crisis, we have decided to consolidate our projects together and came up with Tinape para keka ABE so we can reach out to a greater community and at the same time help the local bakeries by sustaining them their livelihood by giving them the budget and distribute it in their areas,” Tan explained.
ABE-P is a SEC–registered non-profit organization. The initial budget came from the organization’s unused funds from their school projects which helped jumpstart their first relief operation.
“Yung budget came from our reserved funds from our school projects so it is just small amount. Since the budget is intended for social work, we have decided to use it already and then to make it sustainable we came up with a fundraising campaign,” Tan said.
According to Tan, the initial community beneficiaries came from different barangays in this city as well as in City of San Fernando and Porac. More communities from different towns and barangays have already been included in the list of beneficiaries under Tinape para keka ABE such as Mabalacat, Guagua, and Tarlac.
Tan said Tinape para keka ABE will continue until the communities have adjusted even after the extended ECQ is lifted. More than 10,000 families or about 42,000 individuals are expected to benefit thus far.
“Even if the ECQ is lifted, it’s not easy to go back to the normal situation. So, this will still continue until everyone has adjusted and coped with this pandemic,” said Tan. “We will also probably continue to give out face masks as well since we have observed that there are still people who don’t have masks.”
You may refer to the image below should you wish to send donations or visit Tulong ABE’s Facebook page for other details.
(Photos and images grabbed from Tulong Abe Facebook page)
