October 31, 2021
by Justin John Dulogin
In the academic year of 2021, Asian International School of Aeronautics and Technology students initiated their “Community Outreach” spearheaded by their AVI413 Adviser Mr. Jose Lorenzo Iñosa. AISAT recognizes the value of expanding students’ learning opportunities both in and out of the classroom. This is an acknowledgment of the critical role that colleges and universities play in community development.
The first donation drive is “May TWENTY Ako, Fundraising Activity”. Their target beneficiary is Mt. Sinai Academy, Sicao Village, Calinan Davao City. George Nicole Medina, leader of the campaign said that “The reason why we choose to give is that we want to magnify which sectors need help. We surely created an action plan that does not violate any protocols.” Their team managed to create 4 stages of the process. The first stage is for information dissemination, the second is for the collection of funds, the third is to make the purchase for the donation which is, what they are currently working on now, and lastly, the fourth stage is the dropping off their gathered donations.
“We are really amazed at how people responded to our donation drive because, in our current situation, we are in our hard time but still, kindness for others is purely evident.”, stated Medina when asked, what have they realized in doing the said activity.
“Gift-giving Activity for Indigenous Students: Shoebox and School Supplies Inside” is the pandemic outreach program led by Kirby Riz Sumampong, a BSAMT 4A student of AISAT.
“All of us are not expecting that this pandemic will last longer, many workers and other sources of income are affected by this pandemic. The rural communities are highlighted on the impact of Covid-19 because their businesses are also affected, which this is the only way they can help to produce the daily needs of their child who are studying, to help them I decided to have a gift-giving activity for the IP’s students shoebox with school supplies inside. While this pandemic is continuing and spreading the virus now, there is a new variant being detected. Impacts are territorially different, well connected urban areas were among the first exposed to the pandemic.”, Sumampong stated when asked what their outreach is all about.
Their mission is to help a school that can sustain the needs of Indigenous students. They are going to put the school supplies in a shoebox which is creative and effective for recycling unused shoeboxes.
Games are not just for entertainment and fun these days, John Hondonero Balio, a 4th-year student of AISAT, has taken good advantage of “E-Games as a cause-bigay Bigay Program” for a targeted community, in Nabunturan, Davao De Oro. Their program aims to build strong connections and build new friendships with teams that will join in the tournament, gives help to the beneficiary community by giving the raised funds that have been accumulated by this tournament, and educate other people to help the less fortunate society that the sudden increase of poverty in our country is not good. Balio explained why he made this program,
“I chose this type of community outreach because rice has been the country’s staple food and as of this time of the pandemic, and I want to give basic necessity for the people that are in my area. I merged this idea to Khrister Magbanua’s E-Games for a cause proposal because it is an efficient way to do fundraising.” Their team planned first to have a pantry for the community however, for safety measurement considerations, they changed their methods of giving, making it into safer and less chaotic outreach.”
Another E-Games for a cause by Justin Chiang and Vera Suzette Saquian entitled, “E-Games for a cause, Fight and Survive: Helping Children with Cancer”. This outreach is for a big cause because they will organize an online gaming event where they can raise funds for a donation of goods such as toys and books to the House of Hope, a temporary home for children with cancer.
“We thought that a lot of people have been giving to less-fortunate people and our team decided for something big then we chose children who are diagnosed with cancer.”, Justin Chiang stated to why they chose Cancer patients. “I also have seen a TikTok content from a soccer athlete that helped an organization specifically, children who have cancer.”, he added. Vera Saquian and Joshua Escarian assisted Chiang with organizing the said program. Vera said that “We are actually experiencing rough times with the E-Games as the source of funds that is why we focused more on direct donations as a main source of funds.” Their team is planning to coordinate with the house of hope. “We are worried about the current donation we have gotten because it seems to me that this is not enough for the kids. We will do our best because thinking about these children truly pays off the efforts that my team exerted in our campaign.” Justin Chiang added.
Double-purpose community outreach will be pulled off by a group led by Arnelene Amoroso, a student of AISAT. “BASURA MO: PANGKAIN KO” is a donation drive of essential goods for homeless people that also minimizes the waste of every home. The said activity would be a great help to every one of us. Waste would be lessened in every home; we will be able to give the opportunity to those who buy “bote and bakal” and most especially give help to the street and homeless people even in the simplest way.
“The core idea is about recycling and after some brainstorming, we came up with from scratch to cash to goods objective, which means that the wastes we will have will be sent and be sold to junk shops like bote bakal. The amount of selling trash will be donated to the homeless people.” answered by Amoroso when asked how they came up with the proposal. “As of now, we have gathered good amount of money from the in-kind donations and from the trash that we sold. We are also sending letters to the private sectors that could help our outreach” Amoroso added.
You may check the posters on Facebook to see details on where you can donate.