CLARK FREEPORT -- The Widus Hotel and Casino Clark has initially adopted three public elementary schools in Pampanga in line with its Balik Eskwela Program.
Under the program, selected public schools are set to receive more than P1 million worth of school supplies from the Widus Foundation, which was launched during the Pampanga Press Club’s media forum dubbed Talk Widus.
The Department of Education (DepEd) recommended to the Widus Foundation three schools -- Masamat Elementary School, San Isidro Elementary School, and Justino Elementary School that need libraries.
Widus president and chief executive officer Daesik Han said the project, is aimed at helping indigent students in the province.
He described the back-to-school project as a “collective effort aimed at upholding the educations and future of the youth.”
“Since day one, it has always been a dream for us to have our own foundation, a facet that will allow us to have more committed, efficient and regular medium of help to the community,” Han said.
Neki Liwanag, Widus assistant vice president for Business Development, said the their school outreach program was conceived following the hotel’s successful rehabilitation of the Special Education (Sped) center in Angeles City last year.
“We hope to continue extending our company virtue of care beyond compare to the community especially to the youth. For our foundation’s flagship project, we got in touch with DepEd to provide us necessary information of the possible beneficiaries and gathered data revealed that the number of student dropouts increased to to lack of basic school supplies,” Liwanag said.
Mitchelle Estacio, Widus AVP for Finance, assured that the Widus International Incorporated and Widus Philippines Incorporated will fund every project of the foundation.
“Our team hopes to encourage and motivate students to go to school and lessen the parents’ expenses in buying school supplies. These may be baby steps on our chosen endeavor but we will study other possible programs on how we can improve the foundation as we seek to create long term and sustainable program,” she added.
Widus marketing officer Sherly Mamangun said the hotel aims to help poor students have access to quality education by providing school materials like school bags, notebooks, pens, pencils, uniforms and others.