By Jem Tumbaga | Resource Mobilization and Communications Officer
"You don’t have to die to be a hero. At Metrobank, heroes are those that give of themselves unselfishly from the ranks of our volunteer employees. These volunteers give their time and resources–without any expected return–for whatever emergencies or outreach projects that the Purple Hearts Club gets into. "
This apt description of the modern-day hero was made by Ms.Tiu of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. which in February 2003 created the Purple Hearts Club (PHC)–the volunteer group of the Metrobank Foundation– the bank’s corporate social responsibility arm.
Since it was established, PHC has already done numerous CSR programs where their employees get to participate and make meaningful impact in nation building through programs promoting education, environmental stewardship, health and the arts.
Early this year, PHC adopted as its own “Kalye Kalusugan” (Health on the Streets), a health and education program in partnership with Childhope Philippines. Through this program, PHC employee-volunteers are able to inculcate health-related topics to street children around Metro Manila. Here the PHC volunteers teach street children on basic first aid, Dengue prevention, substance abuse and prevention, emergency safety drills, and proper hygiene and sanitation every Saturday to help them get new skills and learning.
"Our use of Purple Hearts is to define that our volunteers do not get any special remuneration or reward in any form but they give their time and spend their own money to do outreach program for communities and people that need their help," Tiu said.
Meanwhile, Childhope Philippines will conduct the implementation of activities for PHC’ employees to volunteer in Kalye Kalusugan as Street Educators, Health Service Volunteers, and Junior Health Worker Trainers in its areas of operations. Twenty to thirty street children, ages 7-14 years old, can able to participate within the program and will run until the last quarter of 2019.
"As the old saying goes, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." The same can be said for health. Treat a person and you heal just one illness, just one time. Teach a person to care for his health, and you get fewer illnesses and an improvement in his overall wellbeing for life. Unfortunately, teaching health to children has oftentimes been a challenge. I think Kalye Kalusugan, with its fun yet an informative activity facilitated by Metrobank employees, has overcome that challenge, and has successfully taught our beneficiaries the necessary knowledge and skills to care for their health. For that, I am very grateful!” Dr. Josefina Carpio, Project Officer of Childhope’s Mobile Health Clinic, said.
Through the initiatives of PHC’s 25 chapters in Metro Manila, Kalye Kalusugan will continuously run until the last quarter of this year.
Links:
By Jem Tumbaga | Resource Mobilization and Communications Officer
By Jem Tumbaga | Resource Mobilization and Communications Officer
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
