SHAPING young minds through proper education and sharing happiness has been the ultimate goal of McDonald's Philippines through Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) in their program called Ronald McDonald Bahay Bulilit Learning Center where they build day care centers nationwide.
McDonald's Philippines remains true to its commitment to help more Filipino children to have safe, conducive and comfortable learning environment for effective learning experience with the official turnover of the newly-constructed day care center last March 15 to Barangay Mintal in Tugbok District, Davao City.
Margot Torres, RMHC Vice President and McDonald's Philippines Executive Vice President and Deputy Managing Director said in her speech during the formal turnover of the Bulilit House that this is the first time that they will establish a day care center in Davao City and the 28th across the country.
As the city has been named as a hall of famer as the most child-friendly city, they chose it as the recipient to provide more facilities for underprivileged children to enjoy learning and be prepared where they could learn basic reading and writing as well as play before getting their formal education.
"We are happy to have the first Ronald McDonald Bahay Bulilit in Davao. We hope that inside the learning center, the young children of Barangay Mintal will get a head start in learning the basics, preparing them for formal schooling. RMHC has always been an advocate of children's education, and the Ronald McDonald Bahay Bulilit is one of our programs that supports this," she said.
The program was in partnership with tge Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the local government units. The RMHC provides communities a safe and fun place where young children can learn and play. The Bulilit House is also equipped with learning materials to be used during their class to aid their learning journey.
It took only two months to build the day care center which will benefit low-income families with a place where their children can learn and play in a safe environment. It has also a capacity of about 70 children age 2 to 5 with two sessions taking place per day accommodating up to 35 children each.
With every Ronald McDonald Bahay Bulilit, RMHC Philippines closely works with local government units such as the City Social Services Development Office (CSSDO) to be able to identify key priority communities in need of a learning center for children.
The CSSDO will be the one to provide the accredited social workers who will facilitate the day to day operations where they are able to engage the children in educational activities as each Ronald McDonald Bahay Bulilit are given Ronald McDonald Read to Learn Kits. Each kit is composed of big illustrated books fit for storytelling, and activity workbooks for children to practice reading and writing to aid in enhancing their literacy.
Meanwhile, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio who graced the turnover and blessing of the Bulilit House expressed her gratitude to McDonalds for selecting the city as the beneficiary of their program which will come a long way in the children's education.
With this, McDonald also announced that they are eyeing to construct another project in the city and they will coordinate with the CSSDO on the location of this project.