About a year ago, EO Philippines decided it was time to give back as an organization. We were well aware that most members do their own share of outreach programs within their own companies, but our chapter board decided it was time to do something together. Thus, the Philanthropy Committee was born.
Our first project is called “The EO Village.” EO Philippines' goal is to build a village in one of the depressed areas of Manila that will consist of at least 40-50 homes for our less fortunate countrymen. Raising the funds has been easy, but we're quickly realizing that actually building these homes is more challenging than we had anticipated.
With Gawad Kalinga—the Philippines' version of Habitat for Humanity—as a partner, our goal is to encourage the residents to build the homes themselves. They will contribute their sweat equity, and that way we won't simply dole out the houses. They will learn to value their homes even more.
EO members host a build every two to three months to encourage and motivate the residents. We go to the site to demolish homes and build new ones, and actually constructing these homes is no joke, especially when you're doing it for others. Chapter members and Forum groups are out there mixing cement, shoveling, carrying hallow blocks, bending steel, cementing walls and floors, and painting the houses.
EO members leave the construction site feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, but knowing that we've helped improve the lives of others is a powerful thing. We go home to our families and back to our own life and can't help but feel grateful.
We have now experienced the joy of turning over three new homes to three families, and we are just about to finish and turn over seven more within the next 60 days. For a little less than US$2,000 for the cost of each house, how can we go wrong? Why settle for 50 houses if we can build 100 or 1,000 and rightly call it The EO Village?
After all, we're not just building the physical houses; we're also building a better community for these people and a brighter future for all involved.
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If you would like more information about The EO Village, please contact Karla Campos.