Leading business outsourcing services provider TELUS International Philippines (TIP), in partnership with the non-profit organization, Hands on Manila (HOM), transformed a school and a community in Tondo, Manila during the company’s annual TELUS Days of Giving (TDOG) on May 13, 2017.
“TELUS Days of Giving are just one of the ways our company provides team members with the opportunity to showcase their commitment to the communities around the world where we live, work, and serve,” shared Jeffrey Puritt, President and CEO of TELUS International. “We reinforced our corporate philosophy, “we give where we live‟, right here in Manila when wecame together today to create a safe, clean, and comfortable learning environment for students to maximize their potential.”
Serving as a kickoff for the Department of Education’s (DepED) yearly school clean-up program, Brigada Eskwela, over 2,600 TIP volunteers came straight from a full night’s shift to spend their Saturday at Rosauro Almario Elementary School to refurbish some of the school’s facilities and extend their helping hands to the surrounding community by sharing first aid, disaster preparedness, livelihood, and job interview skills.
Aside from repainting walls, repairing chairs, refurbishing bathrooms, planting gardens, and replacing school windows, TIP volunteers built a new kindergarten classroom to accommodate more students. The company also conducted a dental mission for the students of the school and organized a workshop to train teachers in first aid and proper healthcare treatment, so they can better care for their students in the event of accidents and disasters.
Equipping this fire-prone community in Tondo with the basic skills and knowledge needed in times of disasters, this year’s TDOG focused on fire prevention, emergency preparedness and trauma recovery workshops, which were attended by teachers, barangay officials, and community representatives. TDOG also prepared livelihood programs, such as soap and candle-making workshops, and administered communication skills and job training for residents seeking employment in the BPO industry. TIP volunteers provided short courses on language training and shared interview techniques and etiquette tips to help job seekers from the community build confidence and to better prepare them for job interviews.
To further highlight the goals of the event and appeal to the caring culture of its team members, TIP created a chair exhibit that features broken chairs taken from Rosauro Almario Elementary School and showcased them in the five TIP offices in Metro Manila. According to Carlos Giammattei, Brand, Marketing & Culture Director at TIP, the exhibit is a symbol of hope for thisyear’s TDOG. “These chairs represent not only the work needed for the school but they also symbolize the hope of creating a better and stronger community if we work together as one,” Giammattei shared.
This was TIP’s fifth time supporting the Brigada Eskwela program and, to date, the TELUS Days of Giving activities have already helped tens of thousands of students in Metro Manila public schools, including the more than 9,000 elementary students attending Rosauro Almario Elementary School.
TIP held its first TELUS Days of Giving in 2007, when team members built homes in the TELUS-Gawad Kalinga Village. For the past 10 years, the company has helped thousands of families and underprivileged children and students through its partnerships with non- government organizations such as Gawad Kalinga, Bantay Bata, Bantay Kalikasan, Virlanie Foundation, and Hands on Manila.
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