COVID 19 PANDEMIC: XAVIER BATCH 1996 REACHES OUT

The Financial District wants to share this heart-wrenching narrative of reaching out, of making a difference, of giving something of themselves in the early hours of the Covid 19 pandemic that is still playing out its economic and emotional mischief on the country and the rest of the world.

Xavier Batch 1996, take a bow, you have done more than what you have dreamt to do in the early outburst of this destructive virus and how right you were: if you did not link hands and throw a lifeline to the front-line health workers, you may not be able to have the momentous celebration, that silver anniversary pageantry of your high school graduation next year.

When the going was tough for the front-line workers especially with the enhanced community quarantine, you rose to the occasion for those you have dedicated yourself to help taking to heart your alma mater’s song: “ give a helping hand to lighten someone’s load.” And straight from a SWOT spreadsheet, you were able to identify what needs to be done. Problem 1 : Healthcare Front-liners had to walk home or had difficulty finding a way home after their shifts. In short they do not get the desired rest aside from exposing their families and communities each time they go home from a shift. And so you tweaked the “Work from Home” concept and turned it around to allow “temporary homes.” Problem 2: Bridge funding for government hospitals’ needed procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other stuff for the front-line health workers’ protection. And so the Xavier Batch 1996 sought the help of their network and give funding they did.

The Financial District asked the Xavier Batch 1996 about what the graduates did and they said :”We had no illusion that our small group will save the world or solve the problem, all we wanted to do was buy time for the big guns to come in.So we thought based on how much time would this batch of PPEs buy. Our goal was to buy worth 5 to 8 weeks of time.”

Xavier Batch 1996  intended to service just UP Philippine General Hospital and the Lung Center of the Philippines, but  the advocacy started to have a life of its own and at last count, it spread its goodwill to 23 hospitals as of the time of this writing There were 100 hotel/hostels rooms provided for 197 Health Care Workers for UP PGH so that they will have a place to rest that is near the hospital. We are now making arrangements 300 more rooms, Xavier Batch 1996 said. It has  also procured and/or provided the following PPEs and supplies to various hospitals: 3,160 Polycarbonate and Acetate Face Shields for Frontliners of various hospitals; 4,900 N95/NK95 Masks; 500 N88 Masks; 4,500 Trilaminate Water-Resistant Disposable Protective Suits; 800 packs of Multivitamins and Care Packages; 300L of Alcohol for the hospitals. Xavier Batch 1996  can now look forward to having that grand ball next year after digging in to do the initial spadework in battling the Covid 19 pandemic that is now being shouldered  by the big guns in business and other sectors. The core group of that small committee of  Xavier  Batch 1996, namely  Fritz Dy, Solomon Tansipek, Adrian Te, Jose Miguel Dy Buncio, and Jose Antonio Aliling did right in pushing through the initial goings on and what they did echoed right through the heart of those they did business with. Xavier Batch’s favorite story is  that of Stay Malate Hotel. “This was the hostel we tapped to house the Front-liners, “ the high school batch said.

“After we had paid the hostel where the front-liners can stay, Stay Malate sent us an email saying that they would want to take  care of the Front-liners, themselves,  donated  back all the money we paid for us to buy some PPEs.”

“So we teared up, whooped it up and with this tear-jerker moment we realized that there is no quitting now, the batch told The Financial District, adding : We are so happy that many others have followed suit, even government officials from high levels. We are also happy how it inspired so many people to give, especially at this time when things have become uncertain. So many people have helped us find leads.