Volunteers help troops feed over 1K ‘Ulysses’ victims in Rizal
MANILA – Various organizations gathered to help the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) mobile kitchen personnel prepare ‘nutritious’ hot meals for residents in Barangay Sta. Ana in Taytay, Rizal on Sunday.
“You can see na dito sa Pilipinas na pag may kailangan ng tulong, everybody wants to help. Kahit ako namimigay lang, I feel happy seeing them happy. By just being here, I can give a feeling of hope na kahit anong mangyari makita nila na hindi sila nag-iisa (In the Philippines when someone needs help, everybody wants to help. Even if you’re only handing out the food packs, I feel happy seeing them happy. By just being here, I can give a feeling of hope [for the victims], so they can see that whatever may happen, they are not alone),” Miss Universe Philippines first runner-up Bella Ysmael, ambassador of Avignon Clinic, said in an interview.
Avignon Clinic’s foundation, the Beauty and Heart organization, sponsored the two-day relief program of the AFP in depressed communities in the province of Rizal.
Jocelyn Managula, one of the founding heads of Beauty and Heart, said their group wants to help bring ‘hot meals’ to the tables of families whose houses were damaged by the strong winds and flooding brought by Typhoon Ulysses.
“We are helping in partnership with the government to reach out to the victims and also help promote the mobile kitchen of the AFP. Aside from canned goods and instant food items often received as relief, offering hot meals is a good way to send them our good thoughts,” she said.
The group provided the financial support to produce nutritious meals for lunch and dinner for two days to communities in Taytay and Rodriguez towns.
The mobile kitchen can prepare meals for more than 1,000 people in every batch of cooking, the military personnel said.
Apart from the private sector, community volunteers also stepped in to extend a helping hand to the military.
Maj. Celeste Frank Sayson, unit commander of the AFP’s 7th Civil Relations Group, shared that the around 60 military personnel who are deployed to prepare and distribute the food were also joined by volunteers from the Barangay UP Campus.
“They are part of the organized communities from the AFP’s Raise to One Million Gardens project in the National Capital Region. These people are inspired to participate in civil service engagements such as this feeding program because they have also felt the impact of it firsthand, so they want to share their time,” he said.
The "Raise to One Million Gardens in NCR" is part of the "Kapwa Ko, Sagot Ko" campaign of CRS. It aims to promote and support food production in Metro Manila especially those affected by the community quarantine.
The “Kapwa Ko, Sagot Ko” initiative also helped usher in volunteers from the Hands Off Our Children (HOC) group, an integral part of the National Task Force on Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC)
Angel Abella, senior community manager of NTF-ELCAC, said that other than the common activities of HOC which are setting up information drives to educate the youth and their parents of deceptive tactics of leftist organizations, the members also involve themselves in community engagements like this as part of the whole-of-nation approach of the government.
“This is a way to show others that we can make a difference by joining relief drive services and it is even better if it is with the government, para bang magkasama-sama lahat para magkaisa tayo para sa pagtulong sa mga kababayan na nangangailangan (it is a way of showing that everyone can come together to help rebuild the communities in need),” she said.
“This area is among the heavily affected parts during the Typhoon Ulysses but there were no casualties because people and its local government are wary of the advisories knowing that even light rains can submerge its streets in water,” he said.
Feraer’s group has also conducted preemptive evacuation efforts to help mitigate the effects of the typhoon.
“Now that the residents are back in their homes and are in the stage of recuperating, seeing different groups merge together, the AFP and police with the private sector, there is the spirit of Bayanihan showing here. Iba ang impact pag nakikita nila ang gobyerno mismo, yung mga effort ng makakaliwang grupo para ma-poison ang isipan ng mga bata para magalit eh hindi tumatalab (It is different when they can see government officials doing these services firsthand, the efforts of leftist groups to poison the minds of the young people to agitate does not come through),” he continued.
The AFP’s mobile kitchen is operated by a team of soldiers with proper culinary training.
The AFP said it can be assembled in less than 30 minutes and can be used to prepare complete meals for 300 people. With its modular design, it can be easily transported even in difficult terrains. Aside from its large food preparation surface, the materials of the trailer are also designed to maintain hygiene in the kitchen. (PNA)
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