CLARK FREEPORT -- Widus Foundation Inc. (WFI), along with its partners, recently donated P1.6 million worth of learning materials and food packs to indigenous communities through its "Para sa Batang Ayta" project.
The "Para Sa Batang Ayta Project" is an initiative of WFI designed to support, augment, and provide continuous learning to three-five-year-old day-care children in Ayta communities.
WFI's partners in the project include the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) in Central Luzon, Widus Hotel and Casino Clark and Clark Marriott, Philippine Air Force-Air Defense Command Clark (PAF-CMO), JCI Mabalacat, and local government units (LGUs).
A total of 660 individuals from Mabalacat and Angeles City, including those from the municipalities of Porac and Floridablanca, Bamban and Capas, Tarlac, benefitted from the project.
Beneficiaries received a box consisting of various school items, educational toys, grocery packs, hygiene kits, and vitamins.
The donations were repacked, prepared, and distributed by employees of Widus Hotel and Casino, Clark Marriott, and volunteers from PAF and JCI Mabalacat Malasa with the aid of the respective LGUs in Pampanga and Tarlac.
WFI Executive Director Neki Liwanag thanked the project partners and volunteers for their continued support in taking part in community relief efforts.
Rogelio Valencia, one of the tribal chieftains of the recipients, thanked WFI for the donations.
"We are forever grateful to WFI because of their tireless support to our community by providing innovative programs to our day care kids that could help them be enthusiastic in their education even during these trying times," Valencia said in the local language.