OREANDA-NEWS. May 17, 2016. Convergys Philippines kicks-off its “Give a Bag Hope 2” campaign after a highly successful run in 2015—this time with the added value of books as part of the supplies given to school children to help improve literacy.

The campaign is fully employee-driven, where employees donate bags filled with school supplies and volunteer hours to distribute them to public school Grades 1 to 3 pupils. In its first run in 2015, almost 22,000 kids in 26 schools and communities were given bags of hope, all thanks to an overwhelming number of employee contributions across the company’s 34 sites in the country.

Poverty still counts as the main reason why elementary school children drop out of school. A local study on the Philippine educational system says that an average student would spend about P900 to purchase school supplies, which accounts for the second highest expense next to transportation.

“Our goal is to ease the drop out problem and give kids a fighting chance at continuing their education. We are grateful to our employees for demonstrating the Convergys Value of ‘Serving The Community’ and making the campaign a success last year. This year, we’re adding books as part of the supplies that our employees will donate,” said Ivic Mueco, Senior Vice President and Country Manager of Convergys Philippines.

Reading literacy
In the Give A Bag of Hope 2 internal launch this May, Chief Operating Officer Marge Connelly visited and joined the leadership team at its Philippines headquarters in Makati. “Our desire is to bring positive change to the communities where we live and work, and to help open windows of opportunities by removing one barrier at a time,” she said.

She added, “We realize that today, in each of our communities, there are children who still cannot functionally read or write. This means that despite having the tools to jumpstart their education, they might not be able to fully take advantage of them.”

This key learning urged Convergys to aim for a bigger goal this year—helping lay the foundations of reading literacy, by including an Adarna book in every ‘Bag of Hope,’ and a storytelling session to be conducted by Convergys employees when they visit partner schools. Adarna House, Inc., is the Philippines’ leading creative house and publisher of children’s books founded by National Artist Virgilio Almario.

Convergys Country Manager Ivic Mueco attributes the success of the program to effective employee engagement, as the company aims to surpass last year’s results. Those who wish to participate can donate several ways: aside from a monetary pledge and actual donation of school supplies, each successful referral also results to a bag of hope donated in the employee’s name.

Introducing Convergys brand ambassador
During the campaign’s launch, Convergys also revealed its new brand ambassador: Alden Richards. The multimedia star, who is half of the popular loveteam AlDub, is now the company’s official brand ambassador and is also set to participate in one of the Give A Bag of Hope school visits this year.

In closing, Country Manager Ivic Mueco shared, “Alden epitomizes the qualities that drive Convergys and its employees to succeed: commitment, perseverance, and hardwork. We are proud to have him as the face of Convergys’ story and he is just as excited as we are for the Give A Bag of Hope 2 Campaign.”