Sisters launch fundraiser for UP’s Ikot, Toki drivers

GIVING BACK Sisters Tristine, Tricia and Trixie Badong are using their love of baking to raise money for jeepney drivers plying the Ikot, Toki routes on the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City. —PHOTO COURTESY OF TRISTINE BADONG

MANILA, Philippines — Even before the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic gripped the country, sisters Tristine, Tricia and Trixie Badong were always baking cookies and selling or giving them away to relatives and friends on special occasions.

But what began as a hobby and at times, a source of additional income, has now turned into a way for the trio to give back to the jeepney drivers on the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman campus in Quezon City who have been jobless since March due to the Metro Manila lockdown.

“Because we live inside the UP campus, we have witnessed ourselves the plight of our UP Ikot and Toki drivers. Back when we were students and even now as teachers, they were the ones helping us move around the campus easily. This is why we thought of giving back and helping them especially now that there is a pandemic,” Tristine told the Inquirer in an interview.

Tricia, a graduate of the UP College of Engineering, and Trixie, an incoming UP Los Baños freshman, have been baking and selling chocolate chip cookies, lemon chia cookies and crinkles, and making “champorado” since last week for their “Para Po Kay Manong Tsuper” fundraising drive.

The project is a collaboration of their two online shops, T&B Hiraya and Iskookies, the business that helped Tricia fund her thesis during her graduating year at UP.

The homemade champorado, good for one to two persons, sells for P50 per container. Five pieces of classic chocolate chip cookies are priced at P125 while the dark chocolate version, also at five pieces, sell for P150. The lemon chia cookies go for P150 to P250 and the crinkles are priced at P100 to P200.

While Trixie and Tricia work in the kitchen, Tristine, an alumna of the UP College of Human Kinetics and now a teacher at Miriam College, handles the social media accounts of T&B Hiraya to accept orders and expand the reach of their project.

77 orders so far

As of Sunday, they had received 77 orders from residents both within Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

So far, they have raised P17,910.83 from the first set of orders and cash donations.

Tristine said their goal was to give at least P3,000 to each of the 30 Ikot and Toki drivers.

“We hope that this serves as an inspiration for others that they do not need to be wealthy nor powerful to be able to help our needy countrymen. During a pandemic, it is important that we help one another and give what we can to those who need it the most,” she said. INQ

Orders may be placed through the official Facebook and Instagram pages of T&B Hiraya or at [email protected]. Payments and cash donations may be sent through GCash: Trixie Badong, 09273664237; or through LandBank: Trixie Marie A. Badong, savings account no. 3076-0993-90.