Best Sunshine CSR team launches ‘Village Pride’

When we think of home, we think of its natural beauty—the vibrant flowers, the breathtaking sunsets, and the pristine waters. It is part of our culture to ensure that the beauty of our island continues to thrive through our people’s efforts at maintenance and preservation. Conserving this longstanding tradition encourages and strengthens unity and pride in our community.

Best Sunshine’s corporate social responsibility team launched their latest venture last week called “Village Pride,” an islandwide beautification project.

Encompassing the idea of inafamaolek and tipiyeew, which means bringing peace and togetherness, CSR will be hosting a barbecue every week welcoming villagers to come and interact with members of the team.

Rita Chong, director of CSR 1 and team leader of the project, said, “We are introducing CSR to the public, village by village. We hope that by meeting the community members, we will be able to have a better grasp on how best we can serve the community as CSR.”

“This project is CSR’s approach in meeting new people from the different communities to expand our network. We are the department of BSI that goes into the communities and partners with various agencies to improve our island,” said Geri Dela Cruz, director of CSR 2. “We encourage our employees to introduce our team at these gatherings to various people in their communities so that we can reach out to them.”

“Village Pride” is not just another Best Sunshine project; it is a personal undertaking that contains a more distinctly special and ambitious theme. Residents have extolled the pride we have in preserving the natural beauty of our home and its assemblage of singular villages united as one island, a pride tied to deeper cultural currents that have been in place for generations.

“Eventually, we want to launch within each village a program where we assist the villagers. The villagers can get together to discuss potential projects for their own villages so that every village will be able to display what is unique about them,” said Chong.

This week’s featured event will take place in the village of Chalan Kanoa District 4 and will be organized by Manny Ogarto, CSR project manager, who is a Laly 4 resident. Ogarto encourages his fellow villagers to join Best Sunshine’s CSR team this Friday from 6pm to 10pm for food and fun.

“I think events like Village Pride are essential to the community, especially Laly 4,” said Ogarto. “It gives people the opportunity to meet us and personally address their concerns. Through this, we will be able to figure out how we can help the village as well as its people.” (BSI)