Better Together volunteers visit Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon to hold education and environment protection initiatives

Over 8,000 students and 250 teachers from two public schools in Northern Mindanao were aided with workshops on digital citizenship and cyber safety, sports clinics, storytelling sessions, school repairs, and a feeding program through the Better Together 2018 Overseas Volunteering Program (OVP).

Around 36 employees from Globe Telecom, Singtel, Optus, 24/7, and Convergys went to Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon to participate in the citizenship drive in areas including education, sports, as well as environment awareness and protection. The program was held on July 16-20, 2018.

“We believe that engaging employees through volunteerism helps them live out their purpose and the experience enriches them on a professional and personal level,” said Yoly Crisanto, Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Vice President for Corporate Communications at Globe.

Indahag Elementary School in Cagayan de Oro and City Central Elementary School, both of which are Global Filipino Schools, were chosen for this year's OVP. The volunteers conducted a sports workshop, feeding program, storytelling, as well as Brigada Eskwela and Farm to Fork initiatives at the two public schools.

The Digital Thumbprint Program (DTP) was also conducted for more than 500 elementary students who were given lessons in cyber safety and digital responsibility. The volunteers taught two of four modules, namely: Digital Insight, which features activities to help students discern proper online behavior to secure their information better; as well as Digital Impact, which tackles issues on technology’s impact on students’ social activities.