ABOUT 1,000 students of Rizal Elementary School received brand new school shoes from the employees of the SM group of companies. Students who received the shoes were from grade levels 1 to 3.
This donation is from the 60,000 Pairs of Shoes Project, a charity campaign initiated by the employees of the SM Group of Companies all over the Philippines.
This is in line with the celebration of SM's 60th anniversary this year.
Together with other SM companies and affiliates, over 3,600 volunteers contributed sharing their time in sorting and packing shoes, writing personal notes on gift cards, and sending these to the beneficiary schools in the communities where there is an SM Supermall.
In total, 60,000 shoes were turned over to 88 schools nationwide.
"It is fitting to share shoes to students, first and foremost, because SM started and grew from shoes," said Julia Javellana, SM City Bacolod assistant mall manager.
SM, then known as Shoemart, was founded by Henry Sy Sr., who started selling shoes in Carriedo, Manila in the late 1950s.
As the business grew, Sy expanded the business into a department store offering other retail items.
Shoemart would eventually grow to be eventually branched out into property development, shopping mall operations, supermarket chains, hotel and conventions, banking, residences and tourism.
Witnessing the turnover of shoes to the students were school principal Dennis Estaniel and Cynthia Demavivas, schools division superintendent of the Department of Education–Division of Bacolod City.
In his welcome speech, Estaniel told the students,"These are more than just shoes because they also represent the hope of SM that you will go to school every day and work hard to finish your studies."
Schools division superintendent Cynthia Demavivias expressed her gratitude to SM for choosing the school as their beneficiary, most of which come from low-income families.
Demavivas also reminded the students that generous people in the community want to see them succeed. "The people of SM mall are a city with a heart," she said. "Thank you, SM, for this gift to our students."
Other educational efforts of the SM Group in Bacolod and the province in the last 11 years include the donation of 3 school buildings with a total of 8 classrooms, benefitting over 35,000 students to date.
Also, a total of 77 students from Negros Occidental have benefited from the SM Scholarship Program to date, 58 of which have already completed their courses. (PR)