The founders of a non-government organization in Calabnugan in the town of Sibulan have organized an 89-day bike tour across Europe starting in April to raise funds for the facility that takes care of more than 20 children.
Bata ng Calabnugan founders Francesco Izzo and Flora Aguit said the fund-raising event called Go Isla Go hopes to raise 53,000 euros (around P3 million) by biking across nine countries in Europe.
On April 23, Izzo will begin his bike tour in Cape Tainaron in Greece, travel 6,500 kilometers until he reaches Sarnes in Norway by July 20.
Barring CoViD restrictions, Izzo will begin in Greece on April 23, and bike through Italy by April 29, Austria by May 31, Germany by June 3, Czechoslovakia by June 7, take a boat to Rostock in Denmark by June 16, Sweden by June 24, take another boat to Stoccolma in Finland by June 30, and reach Norway by July 16.
Along the route, Izzo will be meeting with several Europe-based supporters who had volunteered their time and services in the past 12 years at the Orphanage in Sibulan. The European supporters have shared their talents and expertise with the children at the orphanage, including painting and the arts, guitar playing, school subjects, some sports.
Izzo’s cycling journey will be documented on the Facebook page of Bata ng Calabnugan and on Instagram, with the hashtag #francesco’sride2022.
Previously, the couple have conducted charity snack sales, dinners, lotteries, and banquets to promote the “adoption” of Filipino children by sponsoring their educational and medical needs. To raise funds in 2019, Izzo and Aguit biked 1,400 kilometers from Santa Maria di Leuca to Predoi in Italy. The following year, they also did an 800-kilometer ride from Rome to Fano Adriano.
L’isola dei Bambini is an Italian NGO founded in 2004 by a group of Italians and Filipinos to advocate the protection of the rights of children, based on the concept of volunteerism. The following year, they duplicated the Italy-based NGO into Bata ng Calabnugan Inc., which now operates, the last 13 years, a residential care facility for at-risk children in barangay Calabnugan in the town of Sibulan in Negros Oriental, central Philippines.
The Bata ng Calabnugan orphanage, which receives at-risk children from the Department of Social Welfare & Development in Dumaguete City, currently takes care of 20 children who were previously abused, neglected, orphaned, or voluntarily given up by the parents themselves. Other children are differently-abled physically or psychologically.
Izzo and Aguit have also enrolled all the children in Bata ng Calabnugan at Holy Cross School, a private school in Dumaguete, which has loaned laptops to the children for their online classes during the pandemic.
The orphanage strives to grow their own food in their five-hectare property, and teach the children home skills as they take turns in cleaning their bedrooms, cooking their meals, and doing the dishes.
For donations to Bata ng Calabnugan, please contact 0915-392-5107 or 0916-754-3528 or email [email protected] or Facebook: Bata ng Calabnugan.
In Italy, please contact +39-320-9708402 or Facebook: Isla ng Bata. (Irma Faith Pal)
