Volunteers from the Miss Philippines-Earth competition and Pepsi Philippines gathered recently at the TESDA Women’s Center to re-ignite their commitment to the Liter of Light project, and build solar bottle lights for communities still living in energy poverty.

In just over 90 minutes, the combined group of 8 beauty queen hopefuls, 15 TESDA trainers, and 20 Pepsi volunteers was able to create 30 Pepsi bottle lamps – building these from circuit boards, and connecting them to portable batteries, solar panels, and LED lights housed in 1.5 liter Pepsi PET bottles.

“Having done a Solar Workshop with Pepsi Philippines, TESDA, and Liter of Light last year with our international delegates, we knew how this bayanihan experience of building bottle lights could further enrich the advocacy experience of our Miss Philippines-Earth candidates,” says Miss Earth Vice President Peachy Veneracion.

Since 2011 Pepsi Philippines has been a pioneering partner of the Liter of Light project, started by MyShelter Foundation, under the leadership of its founder Illac Diaz. Together, Pepsi Philippines and Liter of Light have impacted the lives of over 95,000 Filipinos with lighting solutions – promoting local, grassroots production of these bottle lights that will be able to light up streets and homes for many years to come.

“Even after many years of collaborating with the Liter of Light project, seeing our partners and volunteers successfully light up their Pepsi bottles is always a satisfying moment to witness. This reminds us that another community will get a little brighter once they receive their Liter of Light Pepsi bottle lamp,” shares Pepsi Philippines Vice President Jika Dalupan.

Illac Diaz is the man behind the Liter of Light project and launched this project under MyShelter Foundation.

“Liter of Light has now reached 30 countries and it all started here in the Philippines with the help of Pepsi, who helped pioneer and spark the global revolution for sustainable lighting solutions,” says Diaz.