With Metro Manila and much of the NCR downgrading to Alert Level 2, increasingly more locally stranded individuals are returning to their respective homes. However, that doesn’t mean they have it easy and being stranded has no doubt taken their toll. That’s why it’s nice to hear that CHERRY, through its Corporate Social Responsibility arm, the MSN foundation, has launched the CHERRY Swab Test Aide Project.
At the moment, people who are trying to return to their respective homes are required by selected LGUs to provide a negative swab result. Through the Swab Test Aide Project, CHERRY will be pledging one RT-PCR test per beneficiary through PCR Med Inc. Molecular Laboratory, an accredited testing facility located in Makati. The project is expected to fund the swab tests of at least 100 of these stranded individuals, or basically anyone who has been financially affected by the pandemic and would like to return to their place of residence to start over.
“We are expecting a surge in recipients as Christmas draws near. A lot of our kababayan are possibly looking forward to celebrating the holidays with their families so most of them are very eager to go home,” said Agnes Conopio, CHERRY’s PR and CSR Senior Manager.
The beneficiaries will be recommended from DSWD’s list of Kalahi-CIDSS grantees and will be carefully assessed by social workers from the MSN Foundation.
Dezza Sacdal, program officer from the MSN foundation shares, “We give full assistance to our beneficiaries, from referral to their scheduled departure, to ensure that they will return safely and hassle-free to their respective provinces.”
With the country still grappling with the effects of the pandemic, it’s nice to see projects like these that have aimed to mitigate its effects. Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, CHERRY has been at the forefront with efforts like Cherry E-Skwela that has been assisting students to adapt with the new modalities of learning, as well as recently where they distributed medical supplies to more than 30 hospitals within the NCR.
