ECCL
"Education Can Change Lives"
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"
- Martin Luther King Jr.
The "School" Project - 2023
Besides education, schools should provide a safe environment so students can concentrate on their studies as much as possible. Unfortunately, some of the provincial schools and their buildings are anything but safe because of greed and corruption.
ECCL is happy to be able to help and provide the school with buildings that last. (ongoing)
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The "New Sari-Sari" Project - 2023
It is not the first and most definitely not the last sari sari that we've built.
We hope this family will have now a better chance for a better life with the basic needs: food, shelter and clothes.
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The "Gear Up" Project - 2023
Restarting a life over again is never easy, especially without much help.
ECCL gladly stood up and helped out a family of 8 to equip their new home.
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"SOS Friend" - 2023
I'm honored and overwhelmed to share that on the 55th anniversary of SOS Children's Villages, ECCL was chosen as an "SOS Friend"!
I hope we can have more projects in the future with all 8 SOS Villages in the Philippines!
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The "Food Cart" Project - 2023
With no education, no particular skills and no training, sari-sari (small store) is one of the very limited choices available in the Philippines to break out of poverty.
ECCL supplied a Food-Cart to a family of 12 to give them a better chance in the "sari-sari war".
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The "Admin" Project - 2023
Very often, admin staff, maintenance, guards and housekeeping has to stay over nights to look after a building. Unfortunately, quite often, companies do not provide the bare minimum.
ECCL helped out and provided products and goods to make their stay more comfortable.
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The "Ladies" Project - 2022
It's always nice to meet some elderly ladies and listen to their stories.
I was lucky enough to meet not one but 6 wonderful ladies and spend some time with them.
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The "Image" Project - 2022
It's always heartbreaking to see someone this young, fighting a sickness that no one should ever experince.
ECCL was happy to ease the pain at least a little by shouldering the MRI that hopefully will deliver better news that she so much deserves.
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The "Refurbished" Project - 2022
A single mom's house, with one room, no windows, no kitchen, leaking roof, flooding floor and no proper roof structure is bound for catastrophe.
ECCL was glad to fix all that and extend the building with a kitchen and a roofed terrace for dining and playing for the children.
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The "Fillup" Project - 2022
Due to the hardship caused by the pandemic, some of our beneficiaries from previous years could not keep their sari sari stores and food-cart businesses afloat. ECCL helped them refill their inventory so they can restart their business and try to get back to "normal".
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Small Acts of Kindness - 2022
We decided to dedicate October, 2022 to the month of "Small Acts of Kindness" fulfilling as many small wishes as possible for a month. Among many others wishes such as bday parties and Jolibee dinners, we bought school uniforms, new bike tires, fans and stationaries, furnished a small room, paid dentists, medical check ups and even a funeral.
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Regardless of religious affiliation, gender identity, political belief, ethnic background or geographic location, ECCL helps whoever, wherever and whenever needs help.
A local church from Butuan turned to us and we were more than happy to grant their wish to help them finish the construction of their church.
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The "Brigada" Project - 2022
Brigada Eskwela is a tradition in the Philippines to prepare, fix and clean the school during the summer break.
ECCL was happy to help an elementary school with it's preparation for the new school year.
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The "Meds" Project - 2022
The pandemic had a huge impact on most of our lives but especially on those who were less fortunate even before COVID.
ECCL was happy to help an elderly lady who was on the street to day and night, looking for someone to help her and her grand children with her medication and vitamins.
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The "Sari x2" Project - 2022
Typhoon Odette (Rai) did not only wash away houses but also businesses and dreams, leaving many families without income.
ECCL took up on a project to help a family stay ahead of the competition to rebuild businesses in the remote areas of Bohol.
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The "Dance" Project - 2022
Children have been dealing with stress and depression during the pandemic. What is the best way to let the steam out!?
ECCL was thrilled to sponsor and judge a small dance contest in SOS and was happy to give in to the children's invite to play a couple of rounds of basketball and volleyball.
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The "Culinary" Project - 2022
Besides skills and fantasy, constant learning, practice and experience are the fundaments of becoming a good chef.
ECCL was excited to sponsor a team of 12 young chefs to prepare and participate in 5 categories in The Philippine Culinary Cup.
Congratulations to their bronze medal in the "Wedding Cake" category!
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The "Grillin" Project - 2022
Sari sari (small convenience store) is sometimes the only way for a family to secure and income.
ECCL gladly helped a family to stand out in the harsh competition and make their sari sari store special with a juicer and a grill set.
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The "Repaint" Project - 2022
Two years of restrictions, rules and a new norm put a lot of pressure on everyone especially children.
ECCL brought back color to the life of 120 children at SOS Manila; painting and coloring their basketball / volleyball court and playground.
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The "Admin Party" Project - 2022
Admin, guards, housekeeping, maintenance they all work hard to maintain a "normal" for the residences of condominium buildings in Manila and around the world these days.
ECCL was glad to surprise the staff of a building with Pizza to show our appreciation and gratitude.
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The "Z-home" Project - 2022
Many families struggle making ends meet and can only dream about living in a safe home away from loan-sharks, abusing family or stress of limited perspectives in life.
ECCL is happy to help out a family of a young girl who had no choice but to look after her siblings from a very young age while working and finishing her studies at the same time.
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The "Moved Away" Project - 2022
A family of 15 lost everything when Typhoon Odette hit the Philippines in December, 2021.
ECCL was happy to find them a land with a small house and a sari sari store that now they can call their own to start their new life.
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The "Basic Needs" Project - 2022
Security guards, building maintenance, housekeeping, admin are often overworked and underpaid.
ECCL was happy to put a smile on the face of the staff of a condominium building as a gesture of appreciation for their hard work even during the pandemic!
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The "BoHome" Project - 2022
Typhoon "Rai" destroyed more than 530,000 homes and damaged even more. Many families have no choice but to live in shelters they made from the rubble Rai left behind.
ECCL took upon a request of a family of 19 in Bohol to rebuild their home so they can restart their lives.
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The "Bike" Project II. - 2022
A bike can be a game changer in remote areas. Delivering food, people and necessities from A to B, securing a stable income for a whole family.
ECCL gladly "delivered" a brand new bike to a young family to help out with their very much needed income source to restart their life.
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The "BDay Wish" Project - 2022
A young lady has never had the BDay party of her dreams with a Barbie theme cake, pink cup cakes, balloons, lots of food, friends and family.
ECCL was happy to surprise her on her birthday and hopefully make it a day to remember.
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The "Tooling up" Project - 2022
It is never easy to start a career especially in the medical field. A doctor, nurse and caregiver has to undergo a long internship without salary before their position is finalized.
ECCL was more than happy to help out and equip a future frontliner.
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The "Plastic-ity" Project - 2021
A young single mother reached out for help after her sarisari was burnt down.
ECCL was happy to be able to help rebuild the sarisari and fill it up with plastic products.
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The "Powerless" Project - 2021
Typhoon "Rai" affected nearly 4.5 million people, leaving a trail of destruction in the provinces of Bohol, Cebu, and Surigao del Norte on December 16, 2021.
To help families and communities left without electricity for several months, ECCL has sent 45 power generators to Bohol and Cebu.
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The "Bike" Project I. - 2021
A bike can be a game changer in remote areas. Delivering food, people and necessities from A to B, securing a stable income for a whole family.
ECCL gladly delivered a bike to a remote island to help out a family of 13 with their daily necessities, water and a very much needed income source.
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The "Try-cycle" Project - 2021
Many families have lost their income during the lockdowns (ECQ/MECQ) in 2020 and 2021 and are looking for alternate income sources.
ECCL could help out a family by granting their wish and securing the family of 10 a new income source to "TRY".
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The "Santa-bag" Project - 2021
Many parents struggle to put food on the table these days, not to talk about surprising their children with a present for Christmas.
ECCL delivered bags full of chocolate and candies to children and parents who try to make ends meet on the streets of Manila.
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The "BDay" Project - 2021
Many families have no chance to spend time together in a relaxed and fun environment, especially these days.
ECCL was glad to make the birthday wish of a little girl come true, who dreamt about a short staycation with all the members (18) of her family.
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The "Back to School" Project - 2021
Start of the school year is full of excitement for the children but a big burden for many parents.
ECCL made this year's school-start easier for some families by distributing school supplies and stationery to their children.
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The "Source of Life" Project - 2021
40% of the world population still has no access to safe drinking water and the Philippines is no exception. Many remote villages and islands lack drinking water, making it a daily challenge to cook, bath, clean and wash.
ECCL was glad to take the challenge to bring clean water to a small island in Bicol.
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The "Sari-Able" Project - 2021
Many parents, especially single mothers struggle to provide food and shelter to their loved ones. Paying a month advance, a month deposit and the first month to move in and filling up the "sari sari" is a huge challenge.
ECCL was happy to help this family of 9 to make it possible and give them hope for a better tomorrow.
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The "Floodaway" Project - 2021
With the climate changing, there are more severe typhoons, storms and floods every year around the world and a €1,000 ($1,120) floodgate is unaffordable to those who need it the most. ECCL designed and installed its first own floodgate "to test it" and make it available to people living in flood prone areas.
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The "Parish Project III." - 2021
Gatherings in large numbers are not allowed in the Philippines so churches have numerous masses on Sundays in order to give a chance to all followers to pray for a better tomorrow.
ECCL was overjoyed to sponsor the food distribution for over 250 people at the local parish; fresh eggs, rice, instant soup, coffee, salt, vegetables and a warm meal waited everyone who attended the mass.
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The "Reforestation" Project - 2021
Deforestation has been negatively affecting natural ecosystems, biodiversity, and the climate.
A big step for ECCL is unfortunately just a tiny step for the climate re-change yet ECCL will not give up and will continue to making these tiny steps, hoping that others will be inspired and will join or follow.
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The "Rise up" Project - 2021
ECCL stood up to the challenge to rebuild a small house for a family of 10, tightly surrounded by houses on all four sides, connected to the main road only by a long and narrow path, making the construction difficult in many ways.
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The "Parish Project II." - 2021
"No work, no pay" for more than a year. Sadly it is more and more common that families lean on churches and charities to survive tomorrow.
ECCL was glad to answer the call of the local church to help with their food distribution after the Sunday mass spicing it up this time with "Gulyas soup".
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The "Chapel Project" - 2021
The Philippines is proud to be the only Christian country in Asia with more than 86 percent of its population Roman Catholic therefore the church plays an important role in the every day life of the Filipinos.
ECCL is pleased to provide the means and tools to refurbish a chapel, giving the locals a sense of normalcy in such challenging times.
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The "Extension Project" - 2021
Overcrowded communities and overcrowded homes are sadly very common terms in the Philippines.
ECCL was glad to help a young family, extending their home with an additional room for the new baby to be born in October later this year.
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The "Parish Project I." - 2021
Gatherings in large numbers are not allowed in the Philippines so churches have numerous masses on Sundays so all followers have a chance to pray for a better tomorrow.
ECCL was overjoyed to sponsor the food distribution for over 250 people last week at the local parish; fresh eggs, rice, instant soup, coffee, salt, vegetables and a warm meal waited everyone who attended the mass.
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The "Fire Away Project" - 2021
Unfortunately, fire is quite common in overcrowded areas in the Philippines and in December last year a devastating fire took away everything from 10 families.
As a Christmas present, ECCL was happy to lend a hand and start rebuilding their homes brick by brick.
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The "Virlanie Project" - 2021
Virlanie Foundation is a private, non-profit and non-sectarian organization reaching out to marginalized children and communities in the Philippines.
With the help of generous donors from the Shimizu Corporation, ECCL did not hesitate to reach out when we learnt about their difficulties during the pandemic.
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The "Path" - 2021
Certain areas in the Philippines see more storms and typhoons a month than others in a year, not only crippling public transportation but also making it dangerous to visit your neighbors.
ECCL was happy to help a small community on a remote island, building concrete paths among their houses.
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Small Acts of Kindness - 2021
2020 was a challenging year for the whole world especially for those who did not have much to face the pandemic with.
ECCL decided to dedicate March, 2021 to the month of "Small Acts of Kindness" concentrating on as many small wishes as possible for a month. Among others, we granted wishes such as bday parties, small TVs, paintjobs, dentists, medical check ups, stoves, baby goods, refs and so on.
The "Speed Up Project" - 2021
The Philippines consists of more than 7,100 islands. Living on an island can be rather challenging; lack of hospitals, shops, water resource, transportation, internet, mobile signal, etc. just to mention some.
ECCL was happy to help out a family with a boat and set it up with a strong speed engine to significantly shorten their regular travel time between the islands.
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The "Restless Project" - 2021
Because of the lockdowns: ECQ, MECQ, flex MECQ guards, housekeeping and maintenance staff are forced to stay overnight at their workplace for weeks and months before they can finally go home to see their families.
ECCL was happy to help out a team and make their stay more comfortable with fans and mattresses.
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”Gone with the Wind” Projects - 2020
On 1 November 2020, Super Typhoon Goni (Rolly), the world’s most powerful tropical cyclone this year thus far, brought torrential rains, violent winds, mudslides and storm surges to Luzon. Typhoon Goni was quickly followed by Category-4 Typhoon Vamco (Ulysses) sweeping through central Luzon on 11 and 12 November, flooding tens of thousands of homes from Bicol to Manila’s low-lying suburbs, damaging or destroying 367,000 houses, displacing 216,400 people who took shelter in 467 evacuation centers or at families and friends.
ECCL is rebuilding 3 houses and renovating another 14 in Rizal and Bicol where the damage of the two super typhoons was the most sever.
Sorsogon - Bicol
Cainta - Rizal
San Fernando - Bicol
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”Power to the People” Projects - 2020
The wrath of typhoons is felt along its path and people in affected areas grope in the dark because of massive brownouts that are trigged by damaged power facilities.
ECCL provided 28 power generators to families and small communities after Rolly and Ulysses.
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The ”Scholarship” Project - 2020
Covid-19 forced schools to close their doors and provide the courses only online during the pandemic; leaving many students in despair without the means and resources to take the virtual lessons.
ECCL could not refuse a mother's desperate request and provided this bright young man with the necessary tools and shouldered his tuition fees for this academic year.
The ”Paper” Projects - 2020
The Philippines is under lockdown since March 15, 2020. To slow down the spread of the virus, children under the age of 21 are not allowed to attend lessons or even leave their homes.
Schools have tried to find ways to start the academic year in July, unfortunately in a vast number of communities families don't have the means to connect to the internet.
ECCL could not turn away from the request of Tabulac Elementary School in San Jose city and supplied the children with 1,524 reams (762,000 sheets) of A4 70gsm paper in 4 batches from August to November; sufficient to make their offline studies possible for the whole school year.
Batch I.: August
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Batch III.: October
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Batch II.: September
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Batch IV.: November
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The ”Mini Sari” Project - 2020
ECCL is committed to help children and their families break out of super poverty. This October we built a Mini Sari-Sari Store (mini convenient store) in Malate city, Metro Manila and filled up its empty shelves with food, drinks, snacks, clothes and toys.
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The ”Super Sari” Project - 2020
ECCL is committed to help children and their families break out of super poverty. This September we built a Super Sari-Sari Store (mini convenient store) in Taguig city, Metro Manila.
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The ”Refill” Project - 2020
Due to the hardship caused by the pandemic, some of our beneficiaries from last year could not keep their sari sari stores and food-cart business afloat.
ECCL helped them refill their inventory so they can restart their business and try to get back to "normal".
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The ”Bump Scan” - 2020
This strong little boy had a terrible accident and the parents did not have enough funds to cover all the hospital bills.
Our volunteers brought his case to ECCL's attention where we could not turn a blind eye and were happy to lend a hand.
We wish him a fast recovery!
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The ”Special Delivery” Project - 2020
ECCL is determined to help children from the very beginning of their lives.
We supported 36 pregnant girls who were victims of domestic violence or sexual assault / abuse and were left alone without family or partner, with no income and no savings.
What we did:
- sponsor one medical check up before labor
- provide a midwife to help during delivery
- supply clothing, medicine, diapers etc. for the baby
- sponsor the first check up (NBS: Newborn Screening)
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The ”Lockdown” Projects - 2020
"No work, no pay" is the new slogan.
Many workers were sent home without salary or fired immediately after lock-down on March 15. Millions of people with no income and no savings struggle for survival, waiting for the government to provide the bare minimum; food and water.
I hope and pray that it'll be over soon and humanity will restart with less pride, gluttony, envy, greed, lust, sloth and wrath and more kindness, respect, empathy, compassion and love for nature and one another.
Project I.: Dasmarinas
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Project III.: Lipa
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Project II.: Sariaya
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Project IV.: Makati
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The ”Transplant” Project - 2020
The parents have been saving for their son's liver transplant for quite a while unfortunately there's not much time left. Desperately trying to find a way to raise the money, they are now selling T-shirts and ponies on- and offline.
ECCL was happy to lend a hand and bought 120 T-shirts, later donated to SOS Children's Villages, Lipa. We wish him and his parents all the best and hope he will recover soon.
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The ”Jade Home” Project - 2020
This year, we tied our annual volunteer project to this year's main project: the "Sick Leave" project. With the help of 20 volunteers we rebuilt a garden and repainted rooms and fences of two buildings at Jade Home for children with special needs.
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The ”Sick Leave” Project - 2020
After more than a year, we could finally restart the construction in March, 2021. The infirmary will not only help the special need children of Jade Home but also the community around it.
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The ”Volcano” Project - 2020
After it's eruption, more than a 100,000 people had to be evacuated from around the Taal Volcano in Batangas, Philippines. ECCL donated 70 mattresses, pillows, blankets, fans and food to make the lives of the children less stressful.
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The Little Patient - 2019
Burning himself with boiling water, this little hero was treated at Aleosan District Hospital in Iloilo. ECCL could not refuse his heartfelt cry out for help on Facebook and shouldered his treatment expenses until full recovery.
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The "Typhoon Project" - 2019
After Typhoon "Ursula" on Christmas day, we helped victims restart their food-cart businesses in Boracay, Lipa and Iloilo by filling up their carts with merchandise.
Merry Christmas!
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The "Santa Project" - 2019
We supported the Christmas party of the Philippine SOS Children Villages this year, to show our appreciation and gratitude for all the hard work they do to help less fortunate children in 8 villages around the Philippines.
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The "Shelter Project" - 2019
After our project in February, we could not leave a family with 11 children and a grandmother living without safe "shelter", running water, a kitchen or a bathroom.
Thanks for the strong support of family and friends we could provide all this just before the rainy season started.
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The "Convenient Project" - 2019
We are committed to help children and their families break out of poverty. This March we built 14 Sari-Sari Stores (mini convenient stores), 15 food-carts and distributed 1,200 T-shirts in 3 cities (Lipa, Antipolo, Las Pinas) in the Philippines.
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The "Flip-Flop Project" - 2018
At the end of the year, just before Christmas we distributed more than 600 slippers to children and adults in Santa Marcela village, Apayao province, northern Philippines.
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The "Clean Up Project" - 2018
In the beginning of 2018, we cleaned up a schoolyard full of rubble and built a small building for a library / computer room for the children in Antipolo. With the rest of the donations we distributed schoolbags full of stationary in Bataan in the Philippines.
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The "Garden Project" - 2017
In 2017, on two weekends in December, we refurbished a kindergarten's playground in Nissin city Japan. Swings, monkey bars, slides, climbers, the pool, outdoor toilets and storage were repainted and old tires were reused to set up a new tire-garden for the children.
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The "Gold-digger Project" - 2017
In 2017, we fixed roofs, walls, gates and fences in three schools, distributed stationary and clothes to more than 600 students and hand drilled wells in five of the poorest communities in Siem Reap province in Cambodia.
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