Students across the Philippines once again showed their support for fellow learners whose education were affected by the pandemic by joining World Vision’s 2020 5K Campaign Challenge, a fundraising initiative for the benefit of the child-focused organization’s COVID-19 emergency response.

Going above and beyond their goals, World Vision’s student ambassadors were able to raise more than PHP 300,000 and the total amount of donations will be used to help over 3,000 learners all over the country.

The 5K Campaign Challenge’s objective is to encourage the participating students to fundraise among their peers and relatives to help children receive modules and gadgets to continue their education.

During the pandemic, the common challenge among children have been their education, which was why Abutin Nat10 was selected as the focus of the 2020 5K Campaign Challenge. Funds raised for Abutin Na10, a program created by World Vision in partnership with DepEd, will contribute to DepEd’s Learning Continuity Plan and its multi modal approaches, so that children can continue to learn and develop their life skills even in these difficult times.

The students who participated in the 5K Campaign Challenge came from schools across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao in a Virtual Congratulatory Event hosted by World Vision, the following students were recognized because of their huge contribution to make the initiative a great success.

The Top Advocates or students who encouraged others to join the campaign are Arisha of Brent International School, who invited friends to participate in the fundraising and even partnered with a local business to reach her goals, Carina of Homeschool Global, who also invited 3 other friends to fundraise with her and Bernice of Homeschool Global, who advocated for the cause through a livestream performance.’

The First Achievers or students who first achieved the target goal of PHP 5,000 are Paige of Homeschool Global, Imma of Paref Woodrose, and Luisa of De La Salle MHSI.

Meanwhile, the Top Fundraisers of the 5K Campaign Challenge are Kreisha of Homeschool Global, Yashmin of Ateneo De Cebu, and Margau Leanne of Beacon Academy.

“I was reading several articles on how to do volunteer work as a teenager who was being discouraged to go out during the pandemic. I wanted to be useful, to contribute to the success of others and to help. What do I do to figure out where to start? World Vision happened to teach me how to answer that question. With that, I would love to take this opportunity to thank this organization for giving the youth the chance to contribute and be the change society wishes to see,” said Leanne, the Top Fundraiser from Beacon Academy who was able to raise PHP 92,000 for the initiative.

“Being accepted into the student ambassadorship program will remain a huge blessing to me as it opened me to the path I’ve always wanted to take during the pandemic, which is to be able to help even if I was restricted to the four corners of my bedroom. Being awarded as one of the top fundraisers made me realize a lot of things… in that even during tough times, there are still some people willing to extend their helping hand to those who need it,” Leanne shared.

World Vision Celebrity Ambassador Jasmine Curtis-Smith led the 5K Campaign Challenge by inspiring everyone to unite and become #OneForChildren especially during this challenging period.

“The reality is that not everyone has access to internet or gadgets. This campaign will provide students with different modes of learning because we believe that their education should not be affected or stopped because of Covid-19. Again, Abutin Na10 sampung piso, sampung araw, sampung milyong Pilipino para sa sampung milyong mag-aaral!” said Curtis-Smith.

Meanwhile, the Perkins Twins Jesse and Christian also congratulated the youth who steps up to help others during these trying times. “What you guys do is such an amazing thing because obviously it helps those in need but also they’re the next generation, they’ll never forget the help you’ve given them,” Jesse said.

Also supporting the 5K Campaign Challenge are World Vision’s corporate partners Promate and Urbanize.

“It’s so inspiring to see students helping and supporting fellow students, especially the ones who need our help. Thank you for sharing joy and hope to them. We find that the times creating anxiety for us, sapping the hope from our hearts, these are the same things that spur us to get out of our comfort zones and try to become the better version of our ourselves in order to reach out and be a blessing to others,” said Jun Godornes, World Vision Resource Development Director.

“We also hope you discovered something new about yourself, what you are most passionate about, how you can do things you thought were impossible…and become the change agents that we need to see more in this world,” Godornes added.

To know more about World Vision’s 5K Campaign Challenge and its initiative against COVID-19, please visit https://www.worldvision.org.ph. You may also follow /worldvisionph on Facebook and @worldvisionphl on Instagram for updates.