Last April 2, Piolo Pascual made Pasig Elementary School’s young students with special needs very happy. Piolo arrived at the school to launch his new philanthropic endeavor as food bank Rise Against Hunger Philippines’ (RAHP) campaign ambassador for a fundraiser that will benefit the young kids of five preschools in Ifugao’s remote communities.
After signing the contract to formalize his new role, Piolo headed to RAHP’s Jeepney Kitchen parked on the school grounds. There, he gamely stirred the huge vats of ginataan made from the food bank’s signature rice-soy meal packs before personally serving some students their merienda for the day.
The event was a symbolic gesture demonstrating how RAHP’s highly successful school feeding program is carried out. In project sites supported by RAHP, volunteer mothers help prepare and serve the rice-soy meals, which come in four flavors: ginataan, chicken arroz caldo, beef congee, and champorado.
The project titled “Pabaon Para sa Kinabukasan” appealed to Piolo after realizing the importance of early intervention among nutrition-at-risk children in a country with one of the highest stunting rates in the world. With stunting comes retardation which impacts school performance. At RAHP’s other project sites, teachers noticed how the school attendance and performance improved after months of enrolling in the program. Apart from that, they also observed how the program lifted the morale of the children’s mothers who don’t have to worry about providing baon.
and Dr. Ma. Socorro Ignacio, board president, Dr. Paulyn Ubial (back row), and executive director Jomar Fleras.
Despite his busy schedule, Piolo feels honored to spearhead the campaign for Ifugao’s young children, some walking an hour or more to school without eating breakfast. With just one pack of rice-soy meal that costs P155 each, anybody can be an ate or kuya to Ifugao’s nutrition-at-risk kids. Each pack feeds 10 children taking their first few steps toward a better future.
“Ako ay nagagalak at malaking karangalan para sa akin na makasama sa isang adbokasiya katulad nitong ginagawa ng Rise Against Hunger,” Piolo stated during the launch of the program. “Syempre gusto natin gamitin yung influence natin para makapag-inspire tayo ng mga tao. Para mabigyan natin ng nutrisyon yung mga nangangailangan. Ako po kasi, adbokasiya ko ang edukasyon. Hindi lang edukasyon ang importante sa atin, nutrisyon din.”
(Words by Devi de Veyra)