Village Connect
The SM Store recently relaunched its Shop & Share for Education program to provide students with back-to-school kits, in time for the opening of the academic school year 2024-2025.
Shop & Share for Education aims to distribute back-to-school kits to 12,000 grade school pupils in more than 70 public schools nationwide. Running from July 1-31, the initiative encourages shoppers who make a minimum single-receipt purchase of P3,000 to sponsor a child’s school kit for only P100. The kits contain notebooks, pad paper, pencils and ballpens, envelopes and bond paper.
Now on its second year, Shop & Share for Education is SM Store’s effort to help address the lack of access to basic school supplies, one of the high-priority issues of the Philippine education sector. Data from the Department of Education says that for the school year 2023-2024, over 22 million students were enrolled in public schools. However, according to a report by non-government organization Save the Children Philippines, many Filipino students from remote areas do not even own a pencil.
The first Shop & Share initiative benefited 20 schools across the country, in partnership with various NGOs and the LGUs of the adopted schools. The effort proved to be effective as it highlighted how the SM Store can become a good avenue for collaborative social good, given its scale and nationwide footprint. This year’s initiative will have each SM Store adopt one school beneficiary.
SM Store believes that involving its customers creates greater impact for the program’s beneficiaries. Everyone is encouraged to pitch in by adding the school kit to the list on the next shopping trip this July. Each sponsored school kit means an enriched learning experience for a school child in need today, who will one day become a steward of a better future.
