‘Feeding Program’ launched in Tanay

The Sto. Niño Integrated School in Tanay, Rizal is the latest beneficiary of our supplemental feeding program with the launch on September 17 of two modules covering 84 pupils. Tanay is one of a number of our partner communities for the project. With Chairman PP Freddie Borromeo at the launch were First Ann Menchu Pascual, Taba Samson and Ann Jojo Borromeo. The OVP was represented by Raffy Magno. Partnering with the Club for these modules are the Office of the Vice President’s Angat Buhay Program, our long-time partner Kabisig ng Kalahi under Executive Director Vicky Wieneke, and the municipality of Tanay, represented by Mayor Rex Manuel Tanjuatco. This is the second launch for the feeding program this Rotary year. The first was about two weeks earlier, on September 5, in Bay, Laguna. Tanay is one of a few partner communities the Club has been working with on a regular basis. Our last collaboration with them on feeding was for two modules, where 60 undernourished children were placed under a daily feeding program that ran from April through October 2017. After Ms. Wieneke gave an overview of the program, PP Freddie delivered a message that began with a commendation of the teachers for the cleanliness of the school and went on to explain the ill effects of malnutrition, and to introduce the parents to Rotary, zeroing in on its global anti-polio campaign. For her part, First Ann Menchu, noting the abundance of flora in the school, expressed appreciation of the place and the cleanliness of the oxygen-rich atmosphere and reiterated the importance of healthy food to brain development among children, even naming certain foods—squash, papaya, cassava, carrots—and their specific benefits. Mr. Magno expressed thanks to the Club for its work, specifically, the feeding program, which aims to prevent the onset of mental retardation, or nip it in the bud, with nutrition. Finally, Mayor Tanjuatco thanked VP Leni Robredo and her Angat Buhay and the Club for their work in communities that need help. PP Freddie & Ann Jojo hosted lunch at The Gatherings Café in Tanay.