Building education
Property Company of Friends Inc,. better known as Pro-Friends joined Brigada Eskwela, is an annual project of the Department of Education (DepEd).
Pro-Friends sponsored the Brigada Eskwela kick-off in the Pal-Agon, Amparo Elementary School in Pavia, Iloilo. The DepEd project ensures that public elementary and high schools are ready for the school year opening on June.
The volunteers from the company partnered with the teachers, barangay officials and Mayor Arcadio Gorriceta in rehabilitating the school stage and re-painting classrooms. The company volunteers brought with them new reference books and materials for the school clinic. They also conducted a story-telling session to encourage the kids' love for literature. One other integral part of their program is propagating a new vegetable garden to promote a healthy and nutritious diet to the students and volunteer parents.
Pro-Friends is the developer of Lancaster Estates in Cavite and Parc Regency Residences in Iloilo. The company has 36 on-going projects and 52 completed and successful communities. For more information on Pro-Friends' properties, call 491-7700 or visit www.profriends.com.

Cleaner, brighter schools
SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP) welcomed children from host communities back to school by providing them with cleaner, newly painted and repaired classrooms for school year 2012-2013.
The Binga Elementary School in Barangay Tinongdan, Itogon, Benguet, and the San Antonio Elementary School in Barangay San Antonio, Ramon, Isabela, were the respective beneficiaries of the school brigade held by SNAP-Benguet and SNAP-Magat last May.
SNAP is on its third year of supporting Department of Education's annual Brigada Eskwela (School Brigade) as an employee engagement program. Volunteers from SNAP and its contractor agencies, local government units, and host communities participated this year through various makeover activities including repainting of classroom walls and blackboards, fixing and painting of roofs, and painting of book shelves and school benches. Aside from volunteer services of its employees, SNAP-Benguet and SNAP-Magat also provided the paint and cleaning materials. SNAP-Benguet and SNAP-Magat are both joint venture companies between SN Power of Norway and AboitizPower.

Lights up!
Energizer Philippines is set to bring more light to the lives of the people living in Brgy. Puray, Rodriguez, Rizal, as it prepares to distribute 280 solar-powered lights.
This community outreach program is part of the "Spreading Positivenergy" campaign spearheaded by Energizer together with its nonprofit partner organization, One Million Lights (OML) Philippines. This is the second time for Energizer and OML PH to visit Brgy. Puray since the launch of the campaign in the locality in March, during which their teams distributed 100 solar-powered lights to 750 individuals. This time around, Energizer and OML PH expect to distribute three times as much light. Home to thousands of the poorest people in the province, Barangay Puray is isolated by the Mascap Mountain Range and a network of rivers, with dirt roads accessible only by trucks and 4x4 vehicles.
The campaign intends to raise awareness of the need to have safe, renewable and affordable lighting systems to benefit poor Filipinos who rely on hazardous lighting alternatives in the absence of electricity in their areas. The campaign is being done on a global scale, with the Philippines being one of this year's four country-recipients of Energizer solar-powered lights, along with Argentina, Kenya and Ethiopia.

Play and donate
Members of the JCI Manila-Smokey Mt. Football Team played the Caltex online game "Captain Bubbly's Enjoyable Journey" to help generate awareness and funds for their team. Points are converted to cash by Caltex for donation to the football team or two other non-profits, Project Seahorse Foundation for environment and Hospicio de San Jose for education.
Captain Bubbly can be accessed after "liking" the Caltex Philippines Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/CaltexPhilippines. Player earns P10 by reaching the various levels. Players who complete the levels are given access to the Ammado portal, a global donation platform where they can select which non-profit organization will be endowed with their wins.

31-day read-a-thon
Citi Philippines and Sa Aklat Sisikat (SAS) Foundation recently led the concluding rites of a 31-day read-a-thon program funded by the Citi Foundation. Citi country officer Sanjiv Vohra, together with Margarita Delgado and Lizzie Zobel of SAS, also presided over a ceremonial turnover of books to the seven Pasig City elementary schools that participated in the reading program. Citi began its partnership with SAS in 2004. In 2006, Citi began supporting reading programs in nine public schools in San Juan. The partnership expanded to cover seven public elementary schools in Cebu.