Over the last 10 years, the WiT For Good initiative, held in conjunction with the WIT Singapore conference, has raised about US$500,000 for the betterment of women and children in emerging Asia.
It started out as a small idea back in 2008 when we visited the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and saw the wonderful work Dr Beat Richter was doing for kids in the country and we wondered how we could do our bit.
The small success we had with that experiment encouraged us to persevere and in 2009, we introduced our Art For Good programme where we commissioned artists to create works of art in line with our themes and we auction them off in our Charity Auctions.
It warms the cockles of our heart to know that WiT art works are now displayed in the homes and offices of our customers all round the world.
Nino Calay with his Love Bag, standing in front of the WiT Matuto Day Care Centre
But it warms it even more when we see how the funds raised are used to do tangible good. We pick charities that are local and recommended to us by trusted networks, that are run by people on the ground, so we know the funds raised go direct to the people they are intended for.
Last year, we raised more than US$24,000 for the NVC Foundation of the Philippines, which is a multi-awarded small NGO that fights hunger and poverty by providing proper nutrition and access to quality education for children of the poor, as well as sustainable livelihood opportunities for their parents.
Last year’s donation went to an indigenous group living in Sitio Mapawa and Katiguman Village, Bukidnon. The Tala-andig tribe, who live in the mountains of Southern Philippines, are an extremely hard-to-reach community without ready access to government services. Malnutrition is high among children and adults have difficulty finding livelihood opportunities.
Watch this video to see where your contributions went including the building of the WIT Matuto (Learning) Day Care Center which opened in June for the young children of the Tala-andig tribe in the mountains of Bukidnon.
Thank you – look at what WiT For Good did for the Philippines in 2017 from WebInTravel on Vimeo.
Because the NVC Foundation did such a great job updating us regularly on their work, we’ve decided to pick them again as our 2018 beneficiary to continue what we’ve begun so that more children can benefit from your generosity.
Proceeds raised at WiT 2018, after costs, will go towards:
- One classroom with fixtures and learning materials – US$10,000
- Lovebags for 433 children from kinder to grade 7 – US$6,000
- Feeding to 167 malnourished children – US$8,000
- Flipflops for 1,000 children who walk barefoot to school – US$1,000
Total: US$25,000
This year’s Charity Auction will be held Oct 17 during the Closing Cocktails and we will be auctioning off time, talent, expertise and experiences. Time is something money cannot buy but this time, you can and do good at the same time.
Thank you in advance to those who’ve contributed and we look forward to thanking more of you as we aim to meet our 2018 target of US$25,000.
If you’d like to donate after WiT, donate via Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/nvcfoundation/
Find out more about NVC here
