Army dispatches school supplies to 2 typhoon-hit Mindanao provinces

Military personnel are packaging shoe boxes filled with school supplies for shipment to Mindanao. Photo from Philippine Army

MANILA, Philippines -The Philippine Army sent about 50,000 shoeboxes containing school supplies to two Mindanao provinces on Thursday, its grandest Project Shoebox yet.

Some 40,000 of the shoeboxes will go to indigent school children who were victims of typhoon “Pablo” in the provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental last December, while another 10,000 shoeboxes will be distributed to different elementary schools here in Metro Manila.

“Illiteracy or ignorance is another battle that we, the men in uniform, could wage war on. For this reason, the Philippine Army is fully supporting the project to heighten the dimension of helping the youth who are future leaders of this country. Not only will this project help and encourage the children to go to school, but it has also become a facility of convergence among different groups and individuals towards attaining a noble cause,” said Lt. Gen. Noel A. Coballes, Philippine Army commanding general.

After a short ceremony, the shoeboxes were transported to North Harbor Pier by 2GO Express, which offered its forwarding services for free. It will be picked up by the Army’s 10th Infantry Division to be distributed to the intended elementary schools.

The Project Shoebox was first launched by the 4th Light Armor Battalion, Light Armor Division at Camp Nakar, Lucena City last February 2012, wherein basic school supplies and other personal care items were distributed to selected elementary schools using shoeboxes as container.

Project Shoebox has drawn support from the Department of Education, Sigma Alpha Sorority- UP Los Baños Chapter, National Bookstore Foundation and 2GO Express.

Through the support of the groups, Project Shoebox has already reached 93 schools from Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Bicol Regions benefitting 16,246 indigent students.