Manila, Philippines — To promote safety and sustainable livelihood among its employees and partner communities, Chevron Philippines Inc. (CPI), marketer of the Caltex brand of fuels and lubricants, recently held a series of virtual events, donations, and coastal cleanup. These activities are part of CPI’s annual week-long event called Volunteer Week, when employees volunteer their time and energy to help underprivileged communities.
“We are very proud of our Chevron employees’ sense of volunteerism and diversity amidst our difficult situation. Part of this culture is helping communities and families in need endure through the pandemic. We hope that our efforts made during the Chevron Volunteer Week 2020 inspire people to do more for others and take care of the environment,” shares CPI Country Chairman and General Manager Billy Liu.
Farming sustainability with Project Binhi
The virtual event series kicked off with Project Binhi that advocates sustainable urban farming. In partnership with HomeGrown Organics, Chevron plantitos and plantitas gained insights on urban farming. Homegrown Organics Resident Agriculture and Technical Advisor Francis Alpas, who facilitated the virtual seminar, also taught the volunteers the do’s and don’t’s of home gardening.
CPI also turned over urban farming kits to selected students of Hulo Elementary School through the Rotary Club of Mandaluyong-Pasig-San Juan (RC ManPaSan)’s “Yaman sa Hardin Kontra COVID-19” project. RC ManPaSan also taught the students how to grow their own crops. To sustain the initiative and challenge the students to efficiently grow their plants, RC ManPaSan will organize a school contest on vegetable cultivation, which will be monitored by the school’s Science Club.
Stitch of hope
The second leg of the Chevron Volunteer Week 2020 focused on livelihood and safety. With a mission to stitch a bit of hope during this uncertain climate, #StitchMovement taught Caltex Makati Credit Cooperative (CMCC) volunteers how to make a 3-layer face mask with filter pocket.
Chevron partnered with Project Support for Orphans and Widows (Project SOW), which provides rehabilitation and livelihood programs for left-behind families of extrajudicial killing victims in the Lupang Pangako community in Payatas, Quezon City. Project SOW Master Sewer Angelita Conse demonstrated the step-by-step process of the DIY face mask during the workshop.
As part of the #StitchMovement, Chevron procured 200 face masks sewn by mothers from the Project SOW to help sustain their source of livelihood during the pandemic.
Saving the turtles, one clean up at a time
Coinciding with the International Coastal Cleanup Day, Chevron volunteers cleaned up the two-kilometer coastline of the terminal in San Pascual, Batangas. A total of 69 volunteers combed the coast on September 19 to prepare the nesting site for Olive Ridley sea turtles.
100 garbage bags weighing 577 kilos in total were collected during the activity. The garbage was composed mostly of glass bottles; metal cans; plastic materials such as cups, bottles, and straws; and food wrappers. These materials are known to release toxic chemicals and are non-biodegradable, thus becoming major pollutants to the environment and harming marine life.
In early October, a sea turtle was found nesting along the shoreline with around 100 eggs. Chevron personnel have put up a cage around the nesting site to protect the eggs from predators.
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