Cherry Mobile Supports Cause of the Deaf

This school year Barangay Cherry Mobile dumps two misconceptions about one of the less noticed groups—the hearing impaired. Cherry Hears the silent cries of the students who are unable to hear but nevertheless are capable of functioning as hearing people do and have the desire to live life as hearing people do. This advocacy for the cause of the deaf begins with providing them education.

The first misconception about this group is that they are deaf and dumb. The truth is that deaf persons are as intelligent and are as widely variable as the group of people who can hear. The deaf are a diverse group of learners. Believing this fact, Barangay Cherry Mobile extends compassion to selected deaf students by supporting their education. Recently, ten scholars from the Philippine School for the Deaf (PSD) received educational assistance from Cherry Mobile for the rest of the school year. This amount will cover transportation costs, school materials, food allowance, and other school-related expenses. The parents are teary-eyed upon the turnover of the financial assistance. The faculty of PSD are also sympathetic, as they have been providing quality education, basic technology, and other services to help bring out the potential of hearing-impaired students.

Parents of Cherry Scholars from Philippine School for the Deaf intently listen to words of encouragement from CM CSR manager Leah Lopez and PSD teacher Love Bacera.

The Cherry Scholars from PSD, the parents, and the CSR team pose for a group shot after the turnover of the financial assistance.

The second misconception is that the hearing impaired group is deaf and mute. The truth is that there is no vocal impairment; in fact, they can learn speech through special techniques. Ms Julie Esguerra-Marvin, the director of Philippine Institute for the Deaf (PID), a private oral school, believes firmly on this fact and is continually working to help deaf students learn to speak the way hearing people do. 

The CSR team pose with the pupils of Philippine Institute for the Deaf (PID) along with Teacher Lisa Madeja (third from left), who is also a proud alumna of PID and is currently taking her master's degree. Hers is a great story of how the hearing impaired can speak like the hearing people and blend with mainstream society.

Ten of their bright scholars also received a scholarship grant from Cherry Mobile this school year as a support for their persevering efforts to learn and blend with the mainstream society. Parents and school faculty rejoice with the scholars with the blessing that they receive toward a good future.

The ten scholars from PID and their parents are happy to receive educational assistance for their schooling this year.

The PID scholars introduce themselves to the guests orally with the help of cue cards.

PID students and faculty staff pose a group shot after the scholarship turnover rite.

Getting these scholars through primary and secondary schooling is a long journey. Securing tertiary education and a stable job is even a harder battle to face. Nevertheless, Cherry Mobile believes that it is worth investing on these kids who have the motivation to achieve a fulfilled life regardless of their physical impairment. The greatest hunger is not caused by the lack of bread, but by the lack of affection and compassion to those who need it the most.

Barangay Cherry Mobile seeks to address this type of hunger by starting one community at a time, touching one soul at a time. 






Written by Keren Grace Tandico

Say Cheese!

We're excited to kick off a photo contest to show the many ways we love Anne Curtis and the new Cosmos Series!

Visit a Cherry Mobile concept store/kiosk and pose for a photo with a life-size standee of our lovely brand ambassador! Share the photo/s on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and tag them with #CosmosPics to get a chance to win premium items!

Photo Contest Mechanics:

The contest is open to all Philippine residents except for Cherry Mobile employees until second-degree consanguinity.

All contestants may use any kind of camera (professional camera, digital camera or a mobile phone camera) to take a shot.

Deadline of submission of entries is on October 31, 2013 at 5 pm. Only entries submitted until October 31 will be considered.

Cherry Mobile will compile all the valid photo entries and will choose 10 lucky winners, which will be announced on November 4, 2013.

Cherry Mobile reserves the right to own and use for sales and marketing purposes all photos for the contest.

Good luck everyone!

Barangay Cherry Mobile Goes Into Relief Action

When heavy rains strike, help always pours out to communities affected by the floods, but seldom reported are those who are not sinking in flood waters yet are stranded in their own houses with no food or water.

Being trapped in the mountains without food could be inconceivable for many of us, but the 7,000 families in the mountain part of San Rafael, Rodriguez, Rizal, experienced this condition when the southwest monsoon and typhoon Maring struck the area. When the Wawa River overflowed, they were trapped in their own homes, and the floodwaters in the nearest municipality hindered them from getting into town to get food supply. Landslides also washed away houses along the mountain slopes. 

Around 7,000 families reside in the mountain area beginning from this side of the river and far beyond.

This unfortunate situation is an opportunity to help, which Barangay Cherry Mobile grabbed as soon as news of their condition reached the management. Cherry Mobile employees purchased relief goods and started packing in no time, with representatives from different departments working together to repack sacks of rice and canned goods into Cherry Mobile bayong bags. With the help of Lieutenant Primo Partosa of the Rizal district and the Philippine Marines Fifth Infantry Brigade, the community basketball court was turned into a distribution center. Officers of the Philippine National Police also came to enforce security in the venue. 

Barangay Captain Edgardo Sison hold relief packs for distribution with the Cherry Mobile CSR team and Lt. Primo Partosa.

Residents came from up the Sierra Madre mountains and had to walk two hours to reach the covered court for the relief goods distribution. Adults and children alike composed the 1,000 families who gathered and waited patiently for the aid. After a round of messages of encouragement from Cherry Mobile, the AFP, and local barangay officials, the long lines moved as one by one the beneficiaries received their relief packs. After the distribution, the mountain residents, tired but contented to be secure with food for the next few days, left for their two-hour journey back home.

Barangay Cherry Mobile also travelled to Noveleta, Cavite, to help 1,000 families in one barangay affected by the flood. This relief operation materialized with the help of barangay councillor Kate Bernal. Beneficiaries from within the community gathered one Saturday morning to welcome a truck of relief goods sent by Cherry Mobile to their aid.

It is the main goal of Barangay Cherry Mobile to respond to the needs of the communities by delivering help not just for the sake of doing so, but to really make sure that the support reaches those who need it. For this reason, volunteers from Cherry Mobile take time to travel to far locations where majority of the outpouring donations do not reach. By doing so, these volunteers do not just make sure the supplies reach the target beneficiaries but also show compassion personally by means of gestures of kindness.

Written by Keren Grace Tandico

Cherry Builds for Kids to Read

Given with a valuable gift invested toward their education, pupils of Tinajeros Elementary School (TES) are sure to have fun reading and learning in their newly opened “Edutainment Center”. This education and entertainment hub is a gift given to the pupils by Cherry Mobile and other sponsors as part of the nationwide Brigada Eskwela program held on May 20-25, 2013.

TES used to maintain an old library which the students do not even take time to visit because it is not conducive for studying. The break came when Acts of Hope for the Nation (AHON) Foundation, Inc, a non-profit organization that builds fully functional libraries by donating thousands of reference books to public elementary schools, decided to donate books worth P500, 000 to the school with only one condition: that they will be able to provide a good library in which to house the new books. Cherry Mobile helped TES take the challenge for the benefit of the students by providing the materials needed to create a student-friendly library out of an old classroom. Now, the library is inaugurated and known to the pupils as the “Edutainment Center” which consists of a reading area for toddlers, a tutorial section, a counter for the school librarian, and space for the computer section. The fun colors of the walls, chairs, and cabinets as well as the sky blue ceiling are intended to stimulate learning and creativity among the pupils, as the center is designed to be an interactive venue for educational and entertaining activities. 

This is what the library initially looked like during the construction of the cabinets that would hold the books donated to TES.

The cabinets and bookshelves were sufficiently constructed to hold books of different shapes and sizes for readers ranging from toddlers to soon-to-be-highschoolers. 

TES intentionally designed its library to be colourful to stimulate reading and creativity among the students, imbibing the mindset that learning can be fun. 

Cherry Mobile provided the library with a counter for the librarian to administer discipline among the pupil readers.

With the new edutainment center the school aims to improve the reading ability of its students and make it a part of their lives, as it ingrains in the mindset of the children that, indeed, learning can be fun. Cherry Mobile sees this as a worthwhile investment on the education sector because a library which pupils can actually use is a big factor on the development of the education both in the primary and secondary levels. Many public schools lack good libraries due to insufficient budget, and these are schools that Cherry Mobile continuously desires to reach out and invest on.

Present during the inauguration of the TES Edutainment Center were (seated from left to right): Principal Zenaida Roberto, Barangay Captain Esteban Arevalo, Officiating Minister Dr Pio Tica, Malabon Mayor Antolin Oreta III, AHON Foundation Executive Director Harvey Keh, and Cherry Mobile CSR Manager Leah Esperanza Lopez.

Written by Keren Grace Tandico