MANILA, Philippines – Some 21 million public school students around the country went back to their classrooms as schools opened last June 1, according to the Department of Education. Of this figure, 1.06 million are in preschool, 12.84 million are in elementary and 5.33 million are in secondary levels. In remote villages around the archipelago, schoolchildren hike across hills and valleys for hours just to attend their classes in barangays where there are public school facilities. Ironically, there are quite a number of school children who cannot afford to go to school even if it’s free due to lack of school bags and other study materials.
Recently, Pizza Hut’s Book It! Program showed these out of school children that Pizza Hut cares by granting some of their wishes to enable them to go back to school this year.
Pizza Hut Book It! Program, in partnership with the Department of Education, collaborated with National Book Store Foundation Inc. and donated school bags with study packs and reading books to KIDS Foundation for its upcoming event this July and September dubbed “TREK,” which will benefit far flung public schools in the country.
Pizza Hut’s Book It! National Reading Incentive Program, officially launched in 2007, supports KIDS Foundation (Kabataang Inyong Dapat Suportahan), a charitable organization established by actor and Pizza Hut endorser Diether Ocampo. The Foundation is guided by one goal — “Realizing A Child’s Dream Today.” With Diether Ocampo as the founder of KIDS Foundation and main spokesperson of the Book It! Program, Pizza Hut’s employees, from operations down to restaurant support, joined the campaign to help build early reading literacy and give access to education to underprivileged pupils in some of the country’s most remote localities.
The donation by Pizza Hut Book It! Program to KIDS Foundation, turned over in simple ceremonies at Pizza Hut Ali Mall, is only one of Pizza Hut’s ways of giving back to the community in gratitude for the 25 years that it has been continuously patronized by the public.