A few weeks ago, as I was about to head home from a series of meetings, I bumped into a friend, social entrepreneur Illac Diaz. Excitedly, he sat me down and said: “Give me 5 minutes. This project can change the world.” or something of that sort. How could I leave then? I sat in awe, amazed at this new concept and hopeful that runners would go out and help. Yes, it can make a difference if people came out and contributed, I thought. I promised to help him spread the word.
Illac’s new project is called Bottle School. It is all about pioneering one possible solution to help rebuild.
– Social entrepreneur and runner, Illac Diaz, with bottles that can turn into buildings –
Illac learned about self build construction from abroad, which uses commonly disregarded PET 1.5 litro bottles as hollow blocks and mortar to construct buildings. In his case, he decided to use these discarded PET bottles to build schools.
– Bottles are collected, lined up in rows with cement –
– Tada! –
Last year, a million young school children’s education was disrupted and about 2,800 pre-school classrooms were destroyed due to the typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng.With PET bottles, plus cement and labor, schools can be rebuilt…imagine that!
With this in mind, Illac, a track athlete in college, thought of organizing The Bottle School Run. Runners are requested to pay a small fee (which will be used for cement and labor) and contribute two (2) PET bottles to enjoy a running event for a good cause. Sounds good, right?
I’ll be out of town then, but I do hope you can join this meaningful run.
What: Bottle School Run
When: Sunday, June 13, 2010
Where: Bonifacio Global City
Distance: 3k, 5k, 10k
Fee: P200 for 3k | P300 for 5k and 10k. All participating runners are requested to bring two bottles with a 1.5 or 2 liter size of any soda brand on race day
Gunstart Time: 5:30am (10k), 5:45am (5k), and 6:00am (3k).
Email: thebottleschoolrun@gmail.com
Website: www.bottleschoolproject
Contact: Liza Fumar 0927 284 54 36 or Edward Kho 0915-9990187
Click HERE to download registration form.
PRESS RELEASE:
This year, through the pioneering efforts and innovative solutions of MYSHELTER spearheaded by the country’s noted social entrepreneur Illac Diaz, a one-of-kind run-for-a-cause dubbed as The Bottle School Run will be staged at Bonifacio Global City on June 13. All proceeds of this noteworthy race will be used to replace and rebuild a damaged school in Taguig using a ground-breaking architectural model – school classrooms mainly made of soda PET bottles.
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