On Wednesday, Senator Grace Poe has urged the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Education (DepEd) to tap into their P10 billion allocated fund and put up community or food pantries for children on its feeding programs.
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Community pantries became widespread in the country that offer free food and has been a huge help to families who are struggling to feed their families.
Poe stressed that the beneficiaries of the child feeding programs could rise even more if the DSWD and DepEd would learn from the success of community pantries by partnering with local government units and non-government organizations.
The community pantry experience shows that there is tremendous goodwill among our people just waiting to be tapped for a great cause, and addressing child hunger is definitely one,
Poe said.
The funds can be leveraged to extend the reach of the feeding programs,
she added.
According to her, this effort will relieve teachers of non-teaching work, mobilize volunteers, and promote transparency in funds use.
The DSWD has P3.83 billion for its Supplemental Feeding Program under the 2021 national budget to serve about two million children in day care and early child care community facilities.
On the other hand, the DepEd has P6 billion for its School-Based Feeding Program, which has a goal of feeding 1,775,349 children with nutritional deficiencies this year.
Due to lockdowns brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the DepEd and DSWD were still able to deliver food to 1.7 million intended beneficiaries last year, which gained praise from Poe.
Poe believes that the feeding programs must continue as she stresses that hunger is a lethal effect of the pandemic.
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Sen. Poe urges DepEd, DSWD to put up food pantries for children
Reviewed by Issues PH
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May 14, 2021
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Reviewed by Issues PH
on
May 14, 2021
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