3M Philippines Volunteer Program Creates Impact Amid Pandemic, Partners with Various Organizations in Education and Disaster Response

Driven by its commitment to improve everyday lives, leading manufacturing company 3M Philippines extended assistance to AHA Learning Center, the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), and Ecosensya through its employee volunteer program, 3M Impact.

Designed to empower 3M employees to strengthen their leadership skills and spur innovative thinking by making a difference in their chosen communities, 3M Impact started out as a global flagship program where employees get sent out around the world to help address social and environmental issues.

In 2020, despite the limitations presented by various forms of community quarantines, 3M Impact continued to create significant outputs in the Philippines, with individual employee volunteers each clocking in 60 hours of service through virtual sessions with their partner organizations.

Through these partnerships, 3M Philippines employees immersed themselves with the organizations for six weeks from October to December, providing assistance to the organizations through their time and expertise.

One of the biggest hurdles in the country during the lockdown was ensuring that Filipino children continue to get quality education despite having no physical classrooms. 3M volunteers who were deployed to AHA Learning Center were tasked to improve on the messaging of Tulong Eskwela, a free supplementary program housed on Facebook that helps teachers in holding class processes. 3M volunteers worked with AHA Learning Center to create a clear system for teachers to develop a more effective home-based learning environment.

The team, along with the 3Mgives Core Team created the “AHA – A Little Help Goes a Long Way” project last December. Its main goal is to generate funds for the aide of AHA Kid’s to support their online classes. 76 employees generated a total of Php 70,800–paid directly to AHA Learning Center via their shopping website.

Other 3M volunteers worked closely with PDRF to create basic and implementable occupational and safety hazard modules for micro, small, and medium enterprises in disaster-prone areas, which are particularly important especially amid the pandemic. This partnership focused on sari-sari store owners, who did not have the necessary resources to ensure safety within their respective establishments.

Lastly, a group of 3M volunteers collaborated with Ecosensya to develop a roadmap specifically designed for local government units to implement a rainwater harvesting plan. Through its partnership with 3M volunteers, the organization was able to institutionalize an internal system that they can use to pitch a rainwater harvesting program to local officials.

“At the very core of 3M Philippines is the desire to improve lives on a daily basis. Our teams shared their time and expertise with partner organizations to create meaningful and beneficial outputs,” shared Bettina Luz Country Leader of 3M Philippines. “It was a challenging year, but 3M Philippines will continue to serve and create positive change. I am also extremely grateful that the willingness of our employees to serve and get involved with the community did not waiver.”

“It’s been a great privilege for us to continue the work we do especially in these challenging times. A huge part of it has been the support of community champions like 3M. AHA! Learning Center is very grateful to be an impact partner of 3M because through the collaboration, we are able to continue discussions and innovations towards supporting the public school communities, teachers and parents and making our interventions accessible for the Filipino children and their families,” said AJ Lapira, Assistant Director of AHA Learning Center.

PDRF’s Executive Dirextor Veronica Gabaldon also shared, “The Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation is honored to be selected as recipient of the skills-based service program of 3M. working closely with the 3M team assigned to us and the support of Pyxera, we were able to create a course map for occupational safety as well as enhance our internship/volunteer development program. Truly a wonderful experience to engage with 3M employees with a global and innovative mindset in finding solutions and sharing their expertise.”

To learn more about 3M, its programs, and partners, head over to www.3M.com

About 3M

At 3M, we apply science in collaborative ways to improve lives daily. With $32 billion in sales, our 96,000 employees connect with customers all around the world. Learn more about 3M’s creative solutions to the world’s problems at www.3M.com or on Twitter @3M or @3MNews.