T-shirts sold via vending machines to raise money for schools

Former actress Nanette Medved-Po and partners in a nongovernmental organization are “dispensing hope” through a vending machine.

Selling Hope in a Bottle Purified Drinking Water to raise money to build public school classrooms, Generation Hope vendos will now also dispense “bottled” Hope T-shirts made of fabric from recycled plastic drinking containers.

Like the bottled drinking water, proceeds from the sale of the shirts will go to Generation Hope’s classroom-building project. So far, the social enterprise has built 37 classrooms.

The warm response to the drinking water project made Generation Hope realize “the growing interest among Filipinos in buying socially and environmentally responsible brands.”

Medved-Po, founder and president of the social enterprise Generation Hope, partnered with television host and artist Solenn Heussaff to create custom shirt designs. Globis Inc. put the designs and shirts together.

Medved-Po said that except for the shirt, “everything is made in the Philippines.”

The limited-edition shirts— only 2,000 pieces are available —cost P2,000 each. Since vendos cannot accept denominations higher than P100, Medved-Po says there will be people to accept payment for the shirts. The customer will receive a token that he can drop into the Hope vending machine that will dispense a shirt packed in a water bottle.

Each bottled shirt comes with “hope mail,” a letter from a student who benefited from Generation Hope’s classroom-building project.

The Hope vendo, which will sell a total of 200 shirts, will be set up in three “surprise” locations for two to three days each. Afterwards, the shirts will be available online through Zalora.

The T-shirts were made by an American company from 100-percent recycled drinking bottles, the preferred raw material because of the kind of plastic used for their production. Despite its origin, the plastic Tshirt is unbelievably soft, almost like the best quality cotton.

“I will be happy to see local entrepreneurs adopt the technology” and recycle thousands, probably even millions of discarded drinking water bottles in the country, Medved-Po said. exclusively

P2P with Grab

Robinsons Malls has launched #MoveWithGrab, a point-to-point (P2P) ride-sharing service during rush hours. The introductory fixed fare for the pilot run is P60 per trip. Grab will deploy six-seater vehicles for the service. Visit www.movewithgrab.com to know more about the service.

Meanwhile, Robinsons Novaliches reminds participants of its Robinsons Recycling Olympics that they have to conduct their corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects not later than Nov. 15, using money earned from Robinsons Recycling Market.

Winners will be announced in December. The CSR projects will be judged on impact to the community/beneficiaries, innovativeness and extraordinary execution. Robinsons Recycling Market lets the public exchange waste paper, plastic, bottles and cans for cash to be used for CSR activities.

The program supports the Quezon City government’s efforts to promote environmental, including waste management, programs.

For full mechanics and details on Robinsons Recycling Market and Recycling Olympics, visit www.facebook.com/RobinsonsNovaliches.

As part of its environmental initiative, Robinsons Land Corp. donated 26 trash bins to the new Puerto Princesa International Airport. Over a million tourists visit Palawan every year. Send letters to The Consumer, Lifestyle Section, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 1098 Chino Roces Ave. cor. Mascardo and Yague Sts., 1204 Makati City; fax 8974793/94; or e-mail the.consumer.inquirer@gmail.com.