Army’s Project Shoebox provides school supplies to indigent students

About 50,000 students will benefit from an Army project that seeks to provide school supplies to indigent school children.

Dubbed as Project Shoebox, the initiative aims to assist 40,000 students from the typhoon-hit provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental and 10,000 school children from Metro Manila.

The school supplies to be distributed to students are placed inside shoe boxes, hence the name. The project will be launched formally today at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.

“Illiteracy or ignorance is another battle that we, the men in uniform, could wage war on. For this reason, the Philippine Army is fully supporting the project to heighten the dimension of helping the youth who are future leaders of this country,” Army chief Lt. Gen. Noel Coballes said.

“Not only will this project help and encourage the children to go to school, but it has also become a facility of convergence among different groups and individuals towards attaining a noble cause,” he added.

Majority of the shoe boxes would be transported to North Harbor Pier to be brought to the Davao-based 10th Infantry Division.

The Project Shoebox started last year as an initiative of the 4th Light Armor Battalion Lucena City.

Soldiers from the unit distributed shoe boxes containing basic school supplies and other personal care items to selected elementary schools.

The project drew support from state agencies, local governments, businesses and private donors including the Department of Education, Sigma Alpha Sorority-UP Los Baños Chapter, National Bookstore Foundation and 2GO Express.

Project Shoebox has so far reached 93 schools in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Bicol regions and has benefited 16,246 students.