Ever ready for charity

Eveready is a battery brand that we all grew up with and has been a staple in Filipino homes, powering portable and other battery-powered devices since 1951. Its flagship range of Super Heavy Duty carbon zinc batteries is the preferred brand of Filipino households. There is also Eveready Gold, the brand’s longest and most powerful alkaline battery, which boasts five times the power of carbon zinc batteries.

To light up more lives, it is no wonder that Eveready, the country’s largest and trusted name in batteries and flashlights, pledged to help Filipino families by building shelter for the homeless through Gawad Kalinga. The contract signing took place recently at Dusit Hotel Nikko in Makati City.

Here’s a little background on Gawad Kalinga: This housing and community development project aims to build 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in seven years by 2010. Founded in October 2003, it is now a growing multi-sectoral partnership driven to shelter the Filipino homeless under the motto "No More Slums." Its vision is for the Philippines to be a slum-free, squatter-free nation.

Antonio Meloto, founder of Gawad Kalinga, says, "Gawad Kalinga restores the dignity of people. We give land to the homeless, food for the hungry and light to those in darkness."

Eveready’s fundraising program is called Pabahay ng Buhay, where a portion of the company’s sales will help finance the construction of 100 homes through the help of Gawad Kalinga. There will be 20 houses in Luzon at Sitio Ruby, Quezon City. Then, there will be 40 houses for the Visayas region in Eastern Samar, and 40 houses for Mindanao’s Bukidnon area.

"For more than 50 years, Eveready has been powering Filipino lives in small but meaningful ways," says Esteban Vorbeck, president and managing director of Eveready. "Now, Eveready seeks to improve lives in bigger and more significant ways by giving these families their own home through Pabahay ng Buhay. With new homes, we hope they will find renewed energy in rebuilding their lives."

It doesn’t end with building houses for the homeless. Eveready will also donate a sari-sari store to Gawad Kalinga’s Taguig community. Here, the store will serve as a mini hardware shop that is run by members of the community. The great thing about this effort is that, in one way or another, Eveready’s aim is to boost the economy by providing a means for livelihood. In the long run, this will encourage more people to make home improvements of their own. The company will also donate flashlights and batteries to Gawad Kalinga in Taguig.

"This is a big and important moment for the company. It makes perfect sense to give back something to the community," says Alan McCormick, marketing manager for Eveready. "We are not just building homes. It is about building families and doing more for a bigger and better Philippines."

Eveready’s Pabahay ng Buhay started as a small fundraising project by employees of the company. In 2006, the Everyready Employees Union was able to raise a sufficient amount of money to build a house in Gawad Kalinga’s Tawi-Tawi site.

"We were inspired by Gawad Kalinga’s effort to get rid of slum areas," says Cara Tecson, brand manager of Eveready. "The company decided to match the funds raised that allowed the construction of two new homes." For 2007, Eveready chose to take the Employees Union’s initiative further by sponsoring 100 houses through the Pabahay ng Buhay program.

The power of batteries is really amazing — these little things can actually make a big difference in our everyday lives, especially when you need it the most.