Reading Center for a Cause

“Good attracts good and when people sees the good in others… they become good themselves”

It started as a desire; Plock-Lick Pavia (Basic 112, Starshooter 26, Heroic 6) simply wanted to do a reading session with kids. She asked neighbors for used children’s books to add on to the pile she had already collected from members of her extended family. One afternoon in the middle of April, she had brought out the books she had collected, sat under a big tree where three streets met where children usually come out to play. When the children saw she had different kinds of books in different shapes and sizes, they were readily enticed to browse through them. At the end of six weeks, there were 30 children and 15 volunteers actively participating in her project.

When summer ended, her problem was the storage of the piles of books she has collected. At this point she experienced several rejections and obstacles but her intention was clear. Applying the things she learned at PSI, she pushed through and in the end she was offered the entire second floor of the SB Building at Barangay Marilag as a site for a library. Another set of obstacles came, first she didn’t have any idea how to start a library and she has no funds for the shelf and the chairs. With a big room and a list of things she needs at hand she searched for the funds and in just two weeks she raised enough for the bookshelves. Finally on August 16, 2006 BMRC (Barangay Marilag Reading Center) was blessed and officially opened to the public.

Plock-lick also attracted a lot of volunteers. People came to her and asked how they can help. Volunteers do this because they are empowered. They get to experience a sense of leadership since they realized they have something to offer.

Plock-lick gave up her job to give her full time to this endeavor. Now, her goal is to raise funds for a summer youth camp to empower youth leaders and for a mobile library so she can reach out to other kids from different parts of Manila and the country.