Introduction

Kythe Foundation

An organizations that cares for the children

Kythe Foundation is a non-profit organization that aims to help improve the quality of life of children with cancer and other chronic illnesses. To date, they have served and helped over 18,000 children in the Philippines for over 30 years, with the help of eight affiliated hospitals and over 1,500 volunteers over the years.

History

Founded by Icar Castro and Girlie Garcia-Lorenzo, Kythe Foundation started as a simple non-stock, non-profit corporation that established psycho-social activities. After several attempts in expanding and establishing connections, Kythe is now partnered with 8 hospitals across the Philippines.

Mission and Vision

Kythe Foundation is a pioneering team inspired by hope and deep concern for children. They aim to inspire hope, create a culture of caring, and make hospitals a happier place for children. Kythe believes that every child has the right to learn, play, and grow even when confined in the hospital.

Location

Kythe Foundation is a community which has members in various places in the Philippines. However, their headquarters lies in Quezon city, in Metro Manila. Specifically, they are located at Room 201 FSS 1 Bldg. 20 Sct. Tuason corner Sct. Castor Streets, Brgy. Laging Handa, Quezon City, 1103 Metro Manila.

Objectives

To Raise Funds for this project

Cookies were created as a way to raise funds for creating the activity kits given to the children. They come in 3 flavors and only cost 25 Pesos each.

To help the children Socialize

Since the kids are frequently isolated due to their illnesses, and as such, these kits could help them interact with one another, and possibly help each other.

To Teach the children

Activity kits were created that aim to teach children about the lungs, materials to create an interactive model were also included.

Project Implementation

Positively Delightful Cookies

Batches of cookies were sold to the Pisay community over the course of one month, including planning, baking, and selling.

Making the Kits

Using the funds from selling the cookies, materials were bought and kits were assembled one by one.

Results

Fundraising

Over 500 cookies were sold over the course of two weeks of selling, and a revenue of 12,800 Pesos was earned through this, which was used to purchase the materials needed for making the activity kits. Extra profits were also used to purchase a nebulizer for the group's Filipino project.

Kit Assembly

Because of the excess profits, funds were enough for double the intended amount of kits (from 50 initially to 100). Each kit contained two balloons, two bendy straws, a roll of tape, an instruction manual, board paper, lung templates, a pair of sscissors, and a box of 8 crayons.

Passing the kits on

All of the kits were carefully packed into boxes and taken to the main headquarters of Kythe Foundation to be received. Furthermore, stickers were included in each kit that showed a form of "Get well soon" message for the children.

Video Editing

An instructional video was made to help the children in assembling their lung models from the activity kits. The video showcased how the lung model was supposed to be crafted with the use of the different materials present in each activity kit.

Sustainability Plan

Fun, Cheap, and Accessible

The kits prepared are able to provide kids with an enjoyable activity with which they can not only practice their artistic skills but also keep what they have learned as they go through with life.

Positive Change has also sent the instruction files and videos to Kythe Foundation, so that they may be reproduced however needed. Furthermore, the materials chosen for the kits are cheap, and thus, can be easily sourced in order to make more.

Conclusion

Mental health issues are a prevalent problem faced by the Philippines. These are more common to people in the hospitals. Patients would feel isolated from the outside world whilst burdened by the feeling of anxiety. Moreover, the situation worsened as they were even more limited to social interaction due to the danger of the pandemic. Through these activity kits, the children were able to unleash their creativity and experience making something using commonly found materials in a science activity. These children were also able to take advantage of this experience to learn more about the respiratory system of humans.

Although the project was a success, Ms. Carol mentioned that these children have limited facilities to engage and play with. And now, those facilities are being stripped from them in this situation. Due to this, it is recommended for similar future projects to give something more long-term. Ms. Carol mentioned that they were planning to organize a mini library and construct reading areas. As such, donating books would help them with achieving their goal.

Reflection Video

Positive Change_Soc Sci 6 Reflection.mp4

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