Rotary Club of Manila Educational Assistance Program for RY 2020-2021 Launched

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

A centennial celebration project envisioned by then Inspiring President Susing Pineda saw the creation of the Rotary Club of Manila Educational Assistance Program (REAP) in RY 2018-2019 chaired by the late PVP Roy Golez and co-chaired by Rtn. Romy Nones, who later assumed the chairmanship due to the untimely demise of PVP Roy Golez. REAP, then, benefitted one hundred (100) graduating students equally divided between the two universities. While these graduating students already enjoy scholarship status at their respective universities, daily subsistence has certainly posed as a challenge to completing their baccalaureate degrees and with an educational assistance of TWO THOUSAND PESOS (Php 2,000.00) per student per month for a period of twelve months, the future of our country will certainly be in the hands of capable leaders we could depend upon.

This noble centennial project hit the ground running in two occasions where respective accords had been concluded with the concerned parties. Last April 25, 2018, the Board of Directors and Officers of the Rotary Club of Manila led by then PE/Dir. Susing Pineda signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila led by then University President Dr. Leonora Vasquez-de Jesus and then Chairman Dr. Benjamin Espiritu in the presence of then Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada at the Manila City Hall in Manila. Two days later, April 27, 2018, the same board of directors and officers led by PE/Dir. Susing Pineda signed a similar Memorandum of Agreement with Polytechnic University of the Philippines led by then University President Dr. Emanuel de Guzman at the Conference Room of the same university in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

In RY 2019-2020, the Memorandum of Agreement with the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila was renewed with fifty (50) graduating students receiving financial assistance. In the wake of the onslaught of the global pandemic which immensely altered the ways of education where the virtual platform became the educators’ way of imparting knowledge, the landscape shifted from a face to face classroom style of education to the virtual sphere, prompting the committee in charge to revisit the ways of assisting the students as the home became the site of study and the use of tablets and laptops became the new norm.

THE LAUNCHING

The new normal has brought new ways of delivering knowledge by teachers to students. Thus, the REAP has taken a new face. Hence, the Rotary Club of Manila and the RCManila Foundation, Inc. in partnership with TV5 Alagang Kapatid Foundation, Inc., and still under the stewardship of Chairman PP Susing Pineda, President of the RCManila Foundation, Inc., and Co-Chairman Rtn. Romy Nones, launched the REAP E-ARALAN through a virtual signing of a Memorandum of Agreement last March 11, 2021 where the beneficiaries were the children of frontliners in the fight against the global pandemic from government hospitals.

Under this REAP E-ARALAN Project, fifty (50) students who are children of frontliners from government hospitals will be given a load of Php 500.00 a month per student from Smart or Globe for the duration of the virtual school year. The students will use the loads to avail of data promotions of the mobile network dedicated to online learning. It is the intent of the project to increase the number of students availing of the benefits to two hundred (200) in different geographical locations all over the Philippines. Towards this end, the REAP Committee will be coordinating directly with TV5 Alagang Kapatid Foundation, Inc. on updates and “work in progress” so that at the end of the school year, the said foundation will submit a report to the Rotary Club of Manila and the RCManila Foundation, Inc. on the benefits and impact of this project on the educational life of the participating students during this pandemic. This humanitarian cooperative endeavor is a legacy project of both the Rotary Club of Manila and the RCManila Foundation, Inc.

THE NEW PLEDGES

Towards the end of the launching, after Chairman PP Susing Pineda expressed his overwhelming gratitude to the Lambert Fellows and the donors of the REAP as these touched the lives of many students who have less in life, the project was fortunate to have received two (2) new pledges of Php 100,000 each from IPVP Hermie Esguerra, Chairman of the RCManila Foundation, Inc. and PD Beda Fajardo. The committee fervently hopes that many will follow the lead these two Manila Rotarians have taken as we endeavor to help more children fulfill their dreams of a better life.