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Fil-Ams raise funds for school tools that teach about PH heroes

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Rommel Conclara | TFC News San Francisco

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lFt3ePX9jdY?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>Members of the Filipino American fraternity Chi Rho Omicron, also known as XPO, are raising $2,500 for the Pinoy/Pinay Educational Program (PEP).</p><p>100% of the proceeds will go toward paying for a semester’s worth of school supplies and a full set of children&#x27;s books to kindergarten and first grade classes of Longfellow Elementary in San Francisco.</p><p>&quot;The four pillars of XPO are academics, brotherhood, culture, and community. This project is kind of taking all those into the ones. The brothers are coming together to build an academic structure within our community and promoting Filipino culture. So this is very much a foundation of who we are as an organization,&quot; Andrew Kalt of XPO and PEP said.</p><p>The books are from Bayani Art and are about the lives and legacies of Filipino heroes Lapu Lapu, Gabriela Silang, and Andres Bonifacio. They were authored by Robin Aquilizan, who is also a former PEP teacher.</p><p>&quot;She’s been able to make some amazing stories and take these complex ideas and history like systematic oppression and all the things that come with history and really boil it down to the key values of hope, of community, change, and things kids can understand and values you want kids to have,&quot; Kalt noted.</p><p>Since its founding in 1996, XPO has been fostering the next generation of Filipino Americans through service to the community. Five generations of brothers have gone through the PEP program, many of whom have achieved higher levels of education and have become teachers in their own communities.</p><p>&quot;This is very much an act of love. This is our way of saying thank you to PEP and to the Filipino community and culture for having raised us in what it means to be respectful, young gentlemen, and what it means to be leaders within our community and ultimately to be agents of change,&quot; Kalt said.</p><p>For those interested in learning more about the fundraiser or to get involved, visit <a href="https://www.xpotruebeta.org/donate">xpotruebeta.org/donate</a> or their Instagram page @xposf.</p>

Members of a Filipino American fraternity are dedicating their time and efforts to ensure that young students in San Francisco have new school supplies and books about Filipino heroes.