Original story: http://www.visayandailystar.com/2020/June/01/topstory11.htm
BY CARLA P. GOMEZ
The Negrense Volunteers for Change Foundation has received P6.6 million in donations to provide protection to health frontliners and food assistance to the economically deprived during the COVID-19 pandemic, its president Millie Kilayko said yesterday.
“At no other time in NVC Foundation’s almost ten years of existence have we seen as intense and passionate the merging of hearts and minds and energies as we have seen these past two and a half months since we embarked on our Combat the COVID-19 Crisis projects,” she said.
NVC ended its PPE face shields, gowns and masks project yesterday with a report on the numbers its donors has allowed the foundation to reach.
The foundations produced and distributed 17,040 personal protection equipment gowns, 8,467 face shields and 4,643 face masks which were distributed to health frontlines in 27 hospitals, 32 health units and offices, and other frontline groups, organizations and private practitioners in Negros Occidental from March 14 to May 31.
It also distributed 468,441 Mingo meals and 6,132 meal bags to the needy, the contents of which were sourced from produce of local farmers.
This enabled the foundation to also move 37,079 kilos of farm produce and fish catch from more than 200 small farmers and marginal fishermen, Kilayko said.
“With grateful hearts we humbly thank every donor and volunteer who reached out to us during this brief period, and allowed NVC to be an instrument of love to our community of both frontliners and the economically deprived, during this biggest crisis of our lifetime,” she said.
However, Kilayko said their work is not over yet.
“The challenge of helping build communities amongst those hardest hit by this crisis, now confronts us,” she said, adding that they will unfold new initiatives to lift up those economically suffering from the effects of the pandemic.*