J-Hope's Filipino fans host fundraiser to build classrooms

Specially designed labels for a fundraiser being hosted by fans of BTS's J-Hope. [HOBIPHILIPPINES]

Filipino fans of BTS member J-Hope are hosting a fundraiser to build public school classrooms in honor of his birthday.

HobiPhilippines, the Filipino fan club for J-Hope, posted on its Twitter last month that it was launching the “I’m Your Hope in a Bottle” fundraiser, hoping to sell some 40,000 bottles of water at stores, cafes, restaurants and online from Feb. 15.

All proceeds will go to building public school classrooms for Filipino youths. The Philippines is short of approximately 34,000 classrooms for 1.5 million students.

The bottles have specially designed labels, inspired by J-Hope’s mixtape “Hope World” (2018) and BTS’s hits “Dynamite” (2020) and “Life Goes On" (2020).

“I’m Your Hope in a Bottle” is a collaboration with Hope: Business for Good, a company aiming to provide clean water to people in the Philippines. Hope: Business for Good has been officially certified for its social impact.

Other Filipino fans of J-Hope are hosting various charity events to celebrate his birthday. “Dance for Hope” teaches people with developmental disabilities how to dance, “Hope for Children PH” is collecting donations for impoverished and homeless children and “TWL Smile of Hope” is raising funds to provide free surgeries for children born with cleft palates.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]