Chooks-to-Go of Bounty Agro Ventures Inc. signed a memorandum of agreement with Special Olympics Asia Pacific Tuesday, formalizing a partnership to carry out a campaign to benefit people with intellectual disabilities.
The campaign called ‘Kaya ‘Yan, Manok ng Bayan’ campaign includes conducting sports fests and training sessions for PIDs all over the Philippines, as well as a nationwide recruitment drive of PIs to BAVI’s offices.
And Special Olympics is immensely grateful for the partnership that aims to open more opportunities for PIDs all over the country.
“This partnership is very important because we live in a society wherein people with intellectual disabilities are always classed. When we ask for support, they don’t usually mind the PIDs because they don’t believe in them. That’s how we were brought up,” said Special Olympics’ Kaye Samson, who represented the organization’s president Dipak Natali.
“But in Special Olympics, we believe that every athlete and person with intellectual disabilities deserve the right to play in the same playing field and deserve to live in the same world we all live in. We are thankful to Bounty Agro Ventures for this partnership and for believing in our athletes because they really deserve the right to be shown to the world and show what they can do.”
Currently, a total of 6,000 PIDs will benefit from this across 18 provinces. With the help of BAVI, Special Olympics can locate more PIDs around the country through its business centers nationwide.
The first hire of this program is 21-year-old weightlifter Henry Munarriz.
Munarriz was signed by Chooks-to-Go last December. During that span, he has been welcomed with open arms by the company’s human resources division.
“I’m very grateful to be part of Bounty’s workforce,” said Munarriz, who has autism. “I’m very excited about the work culture there and making friends. I want to learn from them so that I can be a better worker. This is a great opportunity for me to show people that I can do whatever a normal person can do. Maybe even better.
“It’s really great for me that BAVI is helping people like me. I feel saved and that I belong.”
For BAVI President Ronald Mascarinas, the work does not stop with this campaign. The goal is to groom the next executive of the company.
“We would like to thank the Special Olympics for organizing these kids to be self-confident, be productive, and be part of mainstream society. For us, it’s very clear — our sports ambassadors will be really a strong source of inspiration for our PIDs. And as far as Bounty is concerned, our objective is very clear — each PID, we will try our best to give a job to them. The assessment will be what is he or she capable of doing,” he said.
“The dream really is that one day, the PID will rise to be an executive. He or she will be a big source of inspiration for our country.”
Serving as ambassadors for the ‘Kaya ‘Yan, Manok ng Bayan’ campaign are national men’s basketball team pool member Kobe Paras and POC Athletes Commission official Nikko Huelgas.
