It all started when...

Four of the Begonia cousins took a trip home to the Philippines in February 2016 where we visited one of the local schools, Popantay Elementary School in Alaminos. The teachers and kids were amazing and did a lot with what they had, but they had NEEDS. These ranged from simple school supplies to larger infrastructure needs like more classrooms, reliable internet access and a library. Additionally, a number of the students were classified by the government as “severely wasted”, meaning their basic nutritional needs were not being met due to poverty. In many cases, these students were not able to make it through the school day due to hunger.

Later on in the trip, the four of us formally decided to do something about it, and since then we have been working to form a 501(c)(3) non-profit focused on the educational needs of children in the Philippines - we’ve called it Green Mango International. We’ve already started dealing with some of the simpler tasks at this school – internet and school supplies for the coming school year – and have located some funding for some of infrastructure. The more operationally complex needs (nutrition) require more work and money to be successful. Right now, we’re currently focused on this one school, but we look forward to expanding to other communities in the future.