Pandi, Bulacan

DO you know what it takes, what happens when you donate a classroom to Feed the Hungry? As soon as FtH receives your donation of P400,000 per classroom, complete with blackboard, chairs, teachers table, lights and electrical outlets for future computer connections, 2 electric fans, upgraded comfort room (called CR in the Philippines, Restrooms in US) with flushing toilet, wash basins, soap and toilet paper holder, ceramic tiles in the floor and walls for easy cleaning; with removal partition to convert the two (2) classroom into a big meeting room; insulated roof, 2 exterior doors for safety, grille windows for security, painted through out……..the wheels of progress starts rolling.

With the assistance of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, FtH start looking for a suitable school that needs classrooms due to overcrowding of students. The schools in the town that the donor will select or where FtH will assign the classrooms, a short list of schools with a high student to classroom ratio, generally those with over 50 students per classroom, or those with 2 shifts of classes, from 7:00AM – 12PM and from 1:00 – 6:00PM. With the short list of schools, CFO staff and/or FtH Volunteers visit the site to ascertain that there is ample space to build the classroom, selection of the building site to minimize the cost of construction; that it is not on a flood plain or the floors had to be elevated to prevent flooding; that the lot is titled to the school to insure that the classrooms will stay in the school “forever”.

With the school selected, the site approved for building, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is drafted by CFO, naming the signatories to the agreement and their responsibilities; FtH to provide the funds to build the classroom, to seek the services of a contractor to build the classrooms; CFO to coordinate and monitor the construction of the classrooms, to provide to the contractor partial payments as progress is achieve according to the agreement; the contractor to build the classrooms; the Principal to provide temporary housing and utilities for the construction; the Barangay Captain to provide the permit at no cost to FtH and assure the safety of the construction workers and provide assistance as needed like providing back fill materials when the floors had to be elevated.

Assuming that there are no delays due to inclement weathers, lack of building materials, the classroom can be completed in 45-60 days. The classrooms are turned-over to the school for immediate use. Inauguration ceremonies are held to instill into the students the need of giving back to the communities, hoping they will follow the example of the FtH donors who have been successful in life because of their education.

Pandi is the last of the 3 schools we visited, after Meycauayan NHS and the Kagabay Site in San Jose Del Monte, all in BULACAN. We started early and went home late but always happy that FtH were able to donate another classrooms, Nos. 77 & 78.

Pablito
Saturday, January 15, 2011