Texan-based Filipinos Raise PHP200,000+ to Support Much-needed Reforestation & Scholarships in Sustainability

8 June 2017, Houston, Texas, USA.  Today, on World Oceans Day, FEED acknowledges the PHP200,000 in donations from a group of well meaning Philippine OFWs who gathered in Houston last April 2017.

 

Thanks to the kindness and warm welcome of Mrs. Frances P. Mananquil, sister in law of FEED’s President Ophelia Mananquil Bakker, a generous group of friends and family – all pioneer Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) – convened at two home-based festivities for musical soirées and great company to hear more about FEED’s education & environment programs in the Philippines; and to in turn donated PHP200,000 to show their support and solidarity for the scholarship and tree planting programs of FEED.

We hereby thank and acknowledge your support for FEED’s Living Legacy program, which has already helped us initiate the first of several initiatives to help raise awareness on the Plastic* Pollution situation not only in the Philippines but, connected, to worldwide oceans.

Houston-based Donors

1 Buddy & Gina Jaeschke Believe4Freedom
2 Advance Surveying Inc Advance Surveying Inc
3 BHC Behavioral Consultants BHC Behavioral Consultants
4 Fredis Busby
5 Sylvia Winsor
6 Evelyn Gutierrez
7 Dino P. Fabi, Gina Fabi Dino P. Fabi, Gina Fabi
8 Willet P. Fabi Chase Manhattan
9 Ming Samantha Puno Bank of America
10 Rose M. Dossett Wells Fargo Bank
11 Maria Cristina Puno Wells Fargo Bank
12 Oscar V. Tolentino Wells Fargo Bank
13 Frances Mananquil Wells Fargo Bank
14 Bert P. Puno Bank of America
15 L B Del Rosario MD, Leticia S. Del Rosario Bank of America
16 Fe Q. Sarmiento ACU Texas
17 Henry and Susan Santos

*A Plastic Ocean

Plastic Oceans.png

A Plastic Ocean is an adventure documentary shot on more than 20 locations over the past 4 years. Explorers Craig Leeson and Tanya Streeter and a team of international scientists reveal the causes and consequences of plastic pollution and share solutions.

Thanks also to the timely request from FEED Ambassador Tina Antonio, co-founder of the La Union Soul movement, FEED was able to sponsor the 1-year unlimited educational viewing license for said film to be made available for viewings at public schools in La Union, as well as other educational establishments in the Philippines.

WANT TO SEE THIS FILM? GO TO:

“In the center of the Pacific Ocean gyre our researchers found more plastic than plankton. A Plastic Ocean documents the newest science, proving how plastics, once they enter the oceans, break up into small particulates that enter the food chain where they attract toxins like a magnet. These toxins are stored in seafood’s fatty tissues, and eventually consumed by us….

The proliferation of plastic products in the last 70 years or so has been extraordinary; quite simply we cannot now live without them. We are now producing nearly 300 million tons of plastic every year, half of which is for single use. More than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year.

Plastic is cheap and incredibly versatile with properties that make it ideal for many applications. However, these qualities have also resulted in it becoming an environmental issue. We have developed a “disposable” lifestyle and estimates are that around 50% of plastic is used just once and thrown away.

Plastic is a valuable resource and plastic pollution is an unnecessary and unsustainable waste of that resource.

  • Packaging is the largest end use market segment accounting for just over 40% of total plastic usage.
  • Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. More than one million bags are used every minute.
  • A plastic bag has an average “working life” of 15 minutes.
  • Over the last ten years we have produced more plastic than during the whole of the last century.

Beverage Bottles Alone

  • According to the Container Recycling Institute, 100.7 billion plastic beverage bottles were sold in the U.S. in 2014, or 315 bottles per person.
  • 57% of those units were plastic water bottles: 57.3 billion sold in 2014. This is up from 3.8 billion plastic water bottles sold in 1996, the earliest year for available data.
  • The process of producing bottled water requires around 6 times as much water per bottle as there is in the container.
  • 14% of all litter comes from beverage containers. When caps and labels are considered, the number is higher.”

Source: https://www.plasticoceans.org/film/facts.html

How to Help

For more information on contributing to or joining FEED’s Living LegacyLiving Legacy programs, among others, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),  Students & Volunteers for the Environment (SAVE), One Child, One  Tree projects, read more about us via the links or contact us via email info@feed.org.ph, text/mobile +63 (0)917 552 4722 for any specific or tailor made requests or donations.

© FEED, Inc.