Baras Elementary School is a small school located in a small island in Samar Visayas, the middle part of the Philippines. Teachers, parents and the community have worked together to be able to provide the best education for the children and upcoming generations. The island is about a 2-hour boat ride from the city (Calbayog City) and it is very hard to find a consistent source of income for the families over there. The school is in constant renovations due to some classrooms being damaged by typhoons and they do not have enough resources to be able to renovate the classrooms and purchase educational items. Jocelyn Gil (the school principal) along with her co-teachers would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to You Me and the Community for the donations given to Baras Elementary School. They felt very blessed and cannot express enough how grateful they are. They were able to purchase a laptop and it’s accessories that can be shared around within classes (from Kindergarten - Grade 1 to Grade 6). They were able to purchase paints for the classroom renovations and around the school for the preparation of the upcoming graduation and they were able to feed 120 students, 8 parents (who helped with the preparation of the food) and 8 teachers to celebrate the end of the school year.

July 2023 the management team from You Me and the Community partnered with Dig In on their weekly service of providing hot and nutritious meals to disadvantaged people in and around Brisbane CBD. We had the pleasure of working with the Dig In team to prepare, package and serve meals while engaging the community and creating lasting memories of those we encountered. I personally was able to attend with my husband who is an immigrant to Australia less than 12 months. He was able to witness different hardships people face here in Australia. He witnessed firsthand what can be achieved by working together. Dig In provided us the opportunity to stand united with a common purpose & develop a platform to do good and make a difference in the community. We look forward to the time our children are old enough to join and be taught valuable lessons of charity and service.