Skip to main content

The Community that Helps Each Other, Rise Together


    The rapid and wide-spread spread of community pantries during the COVID -19 quarantine is widely accepted as the beginning of the movement. Anna Patricia Non, a local entrepreneur, started the project on April 14, 2021, and through her initiative, she was able to create a food bank for her community. However, some of the community pantries were stopped by the government because they were not supported by the government. The organizers of the food pantries were then labeled as communist insurgents.

    By this time, the number of cases of COVID -19 had reached nearly one million. The number of deaths caused by the virus had also jumped earlier that year. The government had promised to provide $475 million in aid to the victims of the pandemic. However, only a fraction of that amount has been distributed. The prolonged lockdowns in the Philippines in 2020 led to the closure of many businesses and the loss of 4.2 million jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor and Employment, the country's economy lost about 10 trillion pesos during that period. During President Duterte's term, the government frequently accused individuals of being communist sympathizers. This problem became so bad that it led to the closure of communal food banks. Individuals labeled as communist sympathizers included human rights activists, journalists, and actresses. While food banks and community fridges are not new to the Philippines, the concept of a food bank became popular in the country in 2021. Ana Patricia Non established the first food bank in the Philippines in 2021


    On April 14, 2021, she placed a bamboo cart full of essential goods on Maginhawa Street in Quezon City. Then she asked people to donate according to their needs. Maginhawa Street is a well-known middle-class neighborhood in the Philippines. It is also near the University of the Philippines in Diliman. The idea of building a community center in a middle-class neighborhood caught the attention of social media users. Inspired by the gesture, individuals, and groups from different parts of the country and even far-flung regions donated to the needy in the Maginhawa Community Food Pantry. This included a group of farmers from a distant province who asked their Roman Catholic priest to provide a crop of sweet potatoes. She later noted that the event became an opportunity for people to prove that they could help each other. After news spread about the Maginhawa Community Pantry, other communities started their pantries. They were set up in areas like Sampaloc, Manila, and Los Baos. Caritas Philippines reached out to Roman Catholic dioceses in the Philippines to ask them to set up their community pantries or revive old ones. Less than a week after she launched the Maginhawa Community Pantry, it was reported that there were already more than a hundred similar facilities in the Philippines.

 


    The small gesture started by a simple college student to help her community with necessities was an initiative to help her fellow Filipinos amid the pandemic. Through this, we also saw that we still have our spirit of Bayanihan. Many citizens are struggling because of the pandemic, and it is heartwarming how people can help even with small amounts to help their fellow citizens. In this context, we must remember this one Islamic quote, 


"You don't need money to help others, you need a heart to help others."


References: 

Community pantries offer reprieve from COVID-19 hardships in the Philippines, Regine Cabato, 21 April 2021, The Washington Post,  Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/philippines-pantries-covid-pandemic/2021/04/21/30ad8a5c-a1ac-11eb-b314-2e993bd83e31_story.html

Food pantries for hungry Filipinos get tagged as communist, JC Gotinga, 24 April 2021, ALJAZEERA, Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/24/food-pantry-for

Senators defend Liza Soberano, Catriona Gray vs general's red-tagging, JC Gotinga, 22 October 2020, Rappler, Retrieved from https://www.rappler.com/nation/senators-defend-liza-soberano-catriona-gray-vs-parlade-red-tagging

'It's not about me,' says the girl who started the Philippines'community pantries, Mark Saludes, 27 April 2021, LiCas News, Retrieved from https://www.licas.news/2021/04/27/its-not-about-me-says-the-girl-who-started-the-philippines-community-pantries/

Community pantries sprout across the Philippines amid flailing govt response to Covid-19 pandemic, Raul Dancel, 20 April 2021, The Straits Times, Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/fuelled-by-flailing-govt-response-to-pandemic-community-pantries-sprout-across-the


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

History from A Beautiful Miracle

       Every history has its own story behind it. If you go back to how the Binatbatan Festival began, you will not only believe in humanity again, but also in God. Back in December 1882, 30 years after a chapel was built in Vigan Cemetery in 1852, a devastating epidemic suddenly broke out, claiming the innocent lives of people in the community.      The death of 932 residents during the months of November and December of 1882 was the beginning. The shocking and devastating number of deceased residents due to the epidemic alarmed not only the residents but also other natives and mestizos or residents with Spanish blood, so they asked a favor from the then pastor, Dr. Evaristo Abaya, and asked to visit the Santo Cristo Milagro of Sinait. The people conducted a nine-day novena to the Santo Milagroso and the number of deaths slowly decreased and fortunately stopped on the last day. They praised God for the miraculous miracle and the majority of the reside...
1 comment
Read more

To the Most Precious Woman in My World

       Mother, Mom, Mommy, Mama, Nanay. Whatever you call the most precious woman in the world, she's the one you're thinking of. From what I have heard from various mothers, being a mother to her child or children is the most difficult yet fulfilling job a woman can ever have. Mothers carry their child for nine months. Amidst the pain and struggle of carrying a child inside of them, they never gave up, which is why we are all here today.      Childhood is the hardest part of taking care of your child, my mother says, because children don't have minds of their own yet and are unaware of the things they do, whether it's something good or something bad. Mothers sacrifice a lot for their family, their children. They sacrifice their freedom to take care of and provide for a newborn baby. And so we celebrate Mother's Day. Every second Sunday in May, we honor our mothers for their sacrifices and the love they have shown us throughout our lives. It's the da...
Post a Comment
Read more

All-Out Me

     The words all-out are what I believe describes myself the most. When I want, like, or love something or someone, I give all of me for them. Some may disagree but it’s my life so I do what I want.      Just like when I am interested in a group or band called IZ*ONE, I go all the way to show how much I love them and support them in their album sales and nominations. I saved all of my allowance in school just to buy their first full album, which became a record-breaking comeback selling over 500,000 albums and I am so proud to be one of it. When they come back with new songs and albums, I stream their music videos day and night. And when it comes to their music show wins, I try to spread the ways on how to vote for them on my social media accounts. Of course, it paid off because they took home all seven music shows trophies, which made them one of the few famous groups who managed to achieve an all streak win. My mother sometimes tells me off on why I am ...
4 comments
Read more