Written by Lia Cagalingan and Camyl Fernandez
As climate change and COVID-19 threaten global destruction, Climate It, a non-profit and youth-led environmental initiative empowers the special education and indigenous youth of La Union through our “Donate to Educate” campaign.
Climate It implements four interconnecting project schemes: a donation drive to help raise funds, the dissemination of care packages comprising environmentally-friendly COVID-19 essentials, environmental learning seminars with guest speakers and fun activities, and lastly, regular check-ups to oversee the progress of our school beneficiaries. We tend to the urgent needs of the children during the pandemic but also advocate for sustainable change by helping these children transition into an environmentally-friendly lifestyle.
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Our target is to “donate to educate” at least 100 children from special education and indigenous public elementary schools namely, San Fernando City SPED Integrated School, Bacsayan, Bayabas, and Nayba Elementary Schools. The students live in far-flung mountainous or beach-side areas in the city of San Fernando, and the municipalities of San Gabriel and San Juan, thus their families’ livelihoods depend on nature.
“A couple of years ago, most people didn’t even know where La Union was. Now, it’s where everyone wants to escape. As much as it has been good for the local economy and tourism, people forget it is our home,” remarked Climate It founder Camyl Fernandez.
Climate It also advocates for public health by emphasizing the pandemic as an aggravator of environmental degradation in our learning seminars. Moreover, in our care packages for the institutions, we include environmentally-friendly COVID-19 essentials, such as reusable masks, sustainable suds, and sanitation supplies, among others.
To help fund our care packages and learning seminars, follow the donation drive guidelines here:
Photo from Climate It LU
“We are fortunate to have the support of our tight-knit community,” said Camyl. “Our beneficiaries openly communicate to us their needs so we could learn how we can best meet them. And when needed, we turn to medical and educational experts for guidance.”
Climate It is spearheaded by youth volunteers; most of whom are La Union natives while a few residents of Butuan, Cebu, and Manila, in support of our “kid-focus” campaign and youth empowerment and children’s rights advocacies.
For regular updates on our initiative, follow @climateitlu on Instagram. Para kadagiti ubeng ti aglawlaw! (For the kids and the environment!)
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