Defying the conventional wisdom that donors tend to lose interest in their projects after a year or two, One Small Step Forward Foundation continues to support the Bagumbayan library (official name – Bagumbayan Elementary School Multimedia Learning Center for Excellence), which it constructed in 2004.

Libis principal Thel Co scans newly-donated books

On opening day, the library was equipped with nearly 700 storybooks, reading textbooks, science-math books and magazines, reference books, biographies, and light-reading magazines. Today, there are over 2,000 titles, despite a regular program to weed out old and worn-out books. That’s because of the Foundation’s regular program to infuse new storybook and reference titles.

Last June 13, 2008, Bing del Rosario personally donated 285 book, video and audio titles to Bagumbayan Elementary School, which was received by Principal Thelma Co. The donation included seven DVD titles, mostly Animal Planet & Discovery Channel; nine stories-on-audio-cassette; two complete sets (seven volumes each) of The Chronicles of Narnia; hardbound references such as The Way Things Work, a complete 20-volune set of Grolier Children’s Encyclopedia, The World Atlas Illustrated Edition, and The Best Book of Ancient Rome; and a huge assortment of brand-new storybook titles from Scholastic, Nickelodeon, Harper and other publishing houses which includes familiar characters like Dora, Clifford, Biscuit, Curious George, I Spy, and Sponge Bob Square Pants, plus a dozen Magic School Bus books.

And demonstrating his continuing commitment to the Bagumbayan Elementary School library that he helped build, Bing del Rosario again went back to the school last November 4 and November 18 for another book donation. This included 25 titles of so-called “big books” – from publishers Adarna House, NOON Prechool, and QAFF Preschool -

BES librarian Jay-ar Galang receives a large donation of books from the foundation last June 13

targeted at the school’s kinder and first graders. It also included 30 titles of the bi-lingual story books (written in both Filipino and English) from local publishers Lampara Books, Hiyas, Anvil and Adarna House. The November 4 donation included floor jigsaw puzzles, memory games, Chinese checker sets, skribbage sets, a large supply of Play Doh, and several badminton rackets and shuttles. The November 18 batch included three boxes of the new Edmark Smart Cube, a high-tech variation of building blocks. Combined, the November 4 and 18 book donations totaled over P11,000. The retail value of the June 13 book donation exceeded P35,000.

The Foundation also pays attention to the state of the electronic equipment. Just this November 18, Bing del Rosario donated two new Coby CD-cassette-radio players and two lightweight stereo headphones, to replace the malfunctioning audio equipment, at a cost of over P4,000.

Since its 2004 inauguration, the Bagumbayan library has been visited by all the division executives, most of the principals of the other 96 public elementary schools, and the librarians of other schools with libraries. Most of the formal functions of the school, especially where it hosts other schools, are now routinely held at the library. Rumor has it that the library will soon be officially declared the division “benchmark” as far as the city’s e-libraries are concerned.