Students raise funds to pursue SPED work in communities

MANILA, Philippines - Ateneo de Manila University’s Special Education Society (SPEED) has raised much needed funds during the last Christmas season to help them pursue activities providing special education (SPED) to children in disadvantaged communities.

Nicole Allison Kua Sy, a junior 3rd year  Management Engineering student and area head of SPEED for its tie up with the Cottolengo Filipino, said the successful Spellbound caroling project held last December, will definitely be a boon to activities they will be lining up for the remaining school year, as well as the next school year 2014-2015.

Sy said that aside from raising funds, the Spellbound Christmas caroling also allowed SPEED to spread their advocacy of reaching out to poor communities by helping provide SPED to children with special needs among other Ateneans.

The Spellbound effort, she revealed, exceeded their target of raising at least P50,000,raising about P75,000.

The SPEED basically ties up with institutions that provide SPED to selected beneficiary communities.

“We don’t actually provide special education, we go to the institutions and do activities with the kids which are geared toward helping them develop their skills,” Sy said.

Sy cited the partnership with Cottolengo Filipino, of which she is area head.

Cottolengo Filipino is a non-stock, non-profit organization that takes in children with special needs who have been abandoned and raises them, imbuing them with skills that will help them become self-sufficient individuals in the future.