14/03/2015
A Solicitation Letter to Expatriate SHS Alumni and Other Willing Contributors
Dear SHS Alumnus/Alumna and Willing Contributor,
I post this note on Facebook on rather short notice and with a sense of urgency.
More than a week ago, I was designated to chair the Ways and Means Committee tasked to generate funds and resources for the commemoration of the 39th Founding Anniversary and 36th Commencement Exercises of the U.P. Manila School of Health Sciences in Leyte. The SHS anniversary on April 19 falls on a Sunday, but a number of commemorative activities have been lined up for April 20 to 24. The commencement exercises will be held for the first time in July, in line with the new U.P. academic calendar.
The decision to come up with symbolic and partly elaborate anniversary activities this year also came on short notice in the light of a key positive development for our school in the past two weeks. The SHS administration team visited the Palo Campus last March 3 and, after viewing the week-old work on the rehabilitation of the Dr. Florentino Herrera Jr. Memorial Building, we were told that the building could be ready for use by next month, April. It was then decided to mark our post-Yolanda return to the Palo Campus with symbolic ceremonies in conjunction with our founding anniversary.
In the pre-Yolanda years, we solicited contributions for SHS commemorative activities from friends and supporters in the Tacloban community and nearby areas, and even from the faculty and staff. It would be unkind to solicit locally now in view of the series of disasters and crises that had struck us. Similarly, it would be inappropriate to solicit from our hardworking alumni in strife-town areas of southern Mindanao and Sulu.
It is now known that the SHS Palo campus was wrecked, and the faculty, staff and students suffered much and were displaced in the aftermath of Supertyphoon Yolanda in November 2013. And while we operated afterwards in tents inside the campus of U.P. Visayas Tacloban College, our temporary facilities were also destroyed by Typhoon Ruby last December 6-7. We were likewise affected by the impact of Typhoon Seniang towards the end of that month.
Despite all these challenges, we now find ourselves on the way back to the Palo campus. But we need funds for our incidental expenses. For this, we need contributions from you, who are now based in better climates and more fortunate social and economic circumstances.
Because of the tight time-frame, I secured tacit permission from the key SHS officials that contributions may be sent with my name as addressee. But please send your contributions thru money courier, so that there would be a paper trail that could be used for accounting purposes afterwards.
Please oblige your alma mater, the UPM-SHS.
Thank you and best regards.
Sincerely yours,
ROLANDO O. BORRINAGA, Ph.D.
Alumni Relations Officer, UPM-SHS
