NVC Foundation joined the fight against COVID-19 in early March 2020. We focused on two areas: PPE provision and nutrition.
Together with volunteers, we produced personal protective equipment (PPEs) to COVID-19 frontliners in Negros Occidental. In total, we provided 8,467 face shields, 17,040 lab gowns, and 4,643 face masks. We ended the PPE program on May 31, 2020 after having completed a substantial distribution of reusable PPEs.
While much of the Philippines was under quarantine, we provided food to marginalized families. From March to May, we distributed 468,441 Mingo Meals and 4,643 Feeding Force Project meal bags.
COVID-19 quarantines have ended in some areas but the crisis is far from over. Though the economy is slowing opening up again, access to income for the poor is still compromised. We continue to focus on addressing hunger but in a more sustainable way.
The Feeding Force Project continues to provide Emergency Relief in the form of meal bags, veggie bags and community pantry contributions. Those who do not have regular access food are given an ample supply of Mingo Meals to see them through times when nothing else is available. But what if we could provide them with a sustainable food source of their own?
Our work with farmers in Mangkay taught us that sometimes people just need better tools and know-how to support themselves. When the farmers were given new tools and taught new farming techniques, they were able to grow more food for themselves. In such a short amount of time, we saw what a difference the program had made and we dubbed the program Farmers of Hope. We successfully replicated the program in two other communities. This inspired us to do something similar for people living in urban areas.
For those who have access to empty lots, we began Gardens of Hope. We now have two Gardens of hope, one in Talisay and another in Helvetia. But hope was not lost for those living in very cramped urban settings. For them, we started Pots of Hope. Even in the tiniest homes, we have been helping people plant crops to eat or sell.
The Feeding Force Project now aims to address hunger in a more sustainable way with its new 5-pronged approach.
Our farm-to-table meal bags for marginalized families contain rice, vegetables from small farmers, and fish from marginal fishermen The bags also include Mingo Meals for the children. We distribute these bags to some communities. To broaden our reach, we also supply these same food items to community pantries all over Talisay, Silay and Bacolod. Communities with access to fish receive veggie bags.
An extra supply of Mingo Meals is given to families whose access to food is compromised. Since Mingo has a shelf life of 6 months, the families have a source of sustenance when other sources of food are not available.
We provide assistance to communities of small farmers in the countryside. The short-term goals are to improve their internal food supply as well as provide opportunities to take crops to market. See this project at work
We help communities with access to empty lots do small-scale vegetable gardening. We provide seeds, simple tools and training to improve their own food supply. And they earn income by selling produce they do not consume.
We assist marginalized communities in crowded urban areas develop edible container gardens. This is primarily for internal food supply but we also support them with market access so that they can sell and earn from what they do not consume.
While things have begun to normalize, we recognize that we need to ramp up our efforts when cases are on the rise. To assist hospitals, we do frontline feeding when necessary. To help children in remote areas, we send out LoveBags. We provide the school supplies needed for children to work on their modules and the included hygiene kits promote cleanliness and hygiene in the community.
Now that hospitals have a sufficient supply of PPEs, we support hospitals in a small way by providing food for frontliners. As often as we can, we send MingoBuns and donations in kind to partner hospitals in Bacolod and Manila. Especially during Covid surges, we supply PGH staff, patients and patients’ companions with our Mingo for PGH drive.
During the height of the pandemic, we had to temporarily shelve our LoveBags project. However, because of special requests, we had small trial runs for the updated LoveBag in recent months. In addition to school supplies, these sturdy backpacks were filled with hygiene kits. And in mid-July, we re-launched the LoveBags Project to give 300 LoveBags to children in Marawi.
Specifically, these bags are for school children in GIDACS (geographically isolated disadvantaged areas in conflict situation). Some intended recipients are in Butig where the ISIS-Maute Local Terrorist Groups began. Others are in Madamba where main training camp of MNLF and MILF is located. The remaining children are in Bubung and Buadiposo which are flood prone areas with NPA camps nearby. We worked with friends from the De La Salle schools and their partner Duyog Marawi on this project.
Thanks to the countless donors as well as volunteer packers, we were able to send off 300 LoveBags to Marawi on August 26, 2021.
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