Smart backs fun run for reading advocacy

MANILA, Philippines - The Storytelling Project (TSP), a reading advocacy that reaches out to kids in remote communities and instills in them the love for learning, has partnered with wireless leader Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) for the Pledge Run 2013: Run for Reading.

TSP’s “Run for Reading” will be held July 27 at the Amoranto Stadium in Quezon City.  Assembly starts at 4 p.m. while gun time is 5 p.m.  Everyone can join for a minimal registration fee.

Pledge runners will have to ask their family and friends to either pledge any amount for the entire run or pledge any amount for every lap they make. Interested parties or individuals who do not want to run may pledge for Bufi or a pledge runner representing their group.  Pledge runners will be given an hour to complete as many laps in a 400-meter oval.

“In joining this run for a cause, you will help TSP raise funds for seed money, project and operational expenses that will be incurred as we formally establish ourselves as a non-government organization (NGO),” said TSP co-founder Rey Bufi.

“Being an NGO will give us legitimacy, enabling us to help more kids,” added Bufi.

The reading advocacy program hopes to create in primary school kids a reading habit by conducting storytelling sessions and by giving them storybooks. 

“At the end of the 21-day program, the children are expected to develop a learning habit that would help them become critical thinkers, increase their self-esteem and develop interpersonal skills thus, help them be more active in their studies,” said Bufi.

TSP has been chosen as peg for Smart’s payITfwd program, the newest social development initiative that aims to scale up via technology existing social good projects in the community that focus on learning.  Bufi and his co-founder are former Smart employees that volunteer for the Read to be Smart (RTBS) program.