On its year four, the Mega Bigay Sustansya has been helping malnourished children across the country

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, various brands made buzz for helping those in need especially, the children who are battling with malnutrition, one of them is the proudly local sardines brand—Mega. 

Through the Mega Bigay Sustansya program that was first launched in 2019, the company, through the Mega Tiu Lim Foundation, has helped nourish hundreds of less fortunate Filipino children, improving their health through well-balanced meals and greater knowledge of basic nutrition despite the pandemic.  

In its fourth year of transforming the lives of beneficiaries across the Philippines, Mega Bigay Sustansya has been substantially expanded, promising to bring positive change to even more people. "Mega Bigay Sustansya Year 4" was rolled out last Tuesday, June 28, 2022 with the promise of more sustainable feeding days and more coverage. 

For this year, the number of feeding days was further increased to 120 days, consisting of two meals a day for six days in a week, for a total of 160,800 meals. The geographic coverage of the program has been expanded to cover seven locations, namely, NCR, Regions 3, 4A, 4B, 6, 8, and 9. Beneficiaries will cover children aged four to 12 years old.

According to Dawn Cabigon, director and founder of Reach Out Feed Philippines (ROFP), this year’s program will benefit 670 children from 19 barangays across the seven regions in the country. Even though this program is headed by a sardine company, the food menu is not limited to sardine meals. This is partnered with different recipes composed of vegetables, chicken and pork approved by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-FNRI). 

On top of this, nutrition and meal management training for the parents and guardians of the beneficiaries will be conducted. To achieve its goal, Mega teamed up with DOST-FNRI, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and ROFP.