The solar lighting movement of Liter of Light is uniting Filipino celebrities as they take up the LIGHT IT FORWARD challenge to bring free solar lights to people who still live without electricity.
The LIGHT IT FORWARD campaign is a Liter of Light initiative that invites people to participate in the online challenge through building solar lights even in the midst of this global health crisis brought on by COVID-19.
As the Philippines moves into a new normal after the initial onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Liter of Light found a new way of bringing light into dark areas of the country.
“The Covid-19 pandemic forced us to rethink how to move forward with our mission of bringing light and hope to the 20 million Filipinos who are still living in darkness,” said Illac Diaz, Founder and Executive Director of Liter of Light.
Since the launch of the campaign on July 1, several celebrities have started to create homegrown inexpensive solar lights while recording the assembly process and challenged their celebrity friends and families to do the same.
The campaign had since created a thousand solar lights from a thousand solar engineers who accepted the Light it Forward challenge and was able to achieve its first milestone by creating a Philippine flag out of solar lights.
The LIGHT IT FORWARD Challenge, drawing inspiration from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014, harnesses the power of social media to spread its message.
The first batch of celebrities who accepted the LIGHT IT FORWARD Challenge to provide solar lights to communities without electricity include:
- Actor Bodie Cruz
- Actress Jackie Forster
- Actress Elen Adarna
- Veteran theatre actor Robert Seña
- Kapuso Actress Ina Feleo
- Kapuso actor Lucho Ayala
- Kapuso hunk Gil Cuerva
- Kapuso actor Jason Abalos
- Kapamilya actress and Film producer Bela Padilla
- Model Jessica a.k.a. Jesych
- News anchor Bernadette Reyes
- News anchor Mav Gonzales
- News reporter Mark Sambrano
- Miss Earth 2019 Janelle Tee
“The LIGHT IT FORWARD CHALLENGE invites everyone to be a part of the solution by giving their time and talent to those who need it most, all from the safety of home,” said Illac Diaz.
Everyone who participates in the LIGHT IT FORWARD campaign will receive a kit that they will use to build a solar light, each comes with a manual and numbered wires.
The ongoing LIGHT IT FORWARD Challenge aims to show the bigger impact that a single light can have through this new way of “bayanihan (collective action)”.
Liter of Light has partnered with GoodNewsPilipinas.com for the media coverage of the Light it Forward Challenge campaign. The two advocacy groups had earlier collaborated on the Good Light Message of Hope campaign to inspire people by creating solar messages during the Luzon lockdown to stop the spread of COVID 19.
To watch the LIGHT IT FORWARD Challenge videos of celebrities go to the Liter of Light Facebook here.
