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Towns Helped

Since opening, the RC Tagum City Food Bank has restored all the severely mal nourished 1 to 6 year old children in Barangays Mankilam, Apokon, San Agustin and San Miguel, and we have served Barangay Pagsabangan for 3 weeks.

After several months of feedings and no weight gain it became clear they needed to eat every day and since cooking for them everyday is just not possible the idea of a food bank came to mind. We are able to buy rice
from the NFA at charity prices (27 pesos per kilo) and give every baby 3 kilos per week (If a mom has 3 kids in the food bank they each get 3 kilos a week) And they know this rice is for the babies. Statistically being underweight means less time in school, more time in jails and less time employed.

Being stunted in their growth means their internal organs lose the ability to metabolize foods properly and their little brains are stunted too (the WHO calls these children “wasted” !) So we go to their Barangay with the meal and the
rice, we weight them, get them washing their hands and give them a 20 minute class. After they eat we let them check out a book from our little library (300 books donated so far) and then distribute the rice. We also give them vegetable starts so they can grow their own, a t shirt, toothbrushes and vitamins. So far we have restored 517 severely malnourished babies to health in 13 Barangays! We spend 2,000 pesos on the hot meal (about 50 usd) and 2,500 pesos on the rice (about 60 usd) every week for 12 weeks. Sometimes it takes us 14 weeks to restore all the babies to a healthy weight. A cost of about 40 usd per child for complete restoration. All donations, 100% buys food for these babies period, we have other accounts for administrative costs. currently we are only able to give them rice and it is important to their health that we can start giving protein in the form of canned foods, dried fish, eggs and milk.

Tagum Food Bank

THE GENESIS OF THE TAGUM CITY FOOD BANK

David went to the Purok leaders and presented the idea of a food bank to them, which they readily embraced. They donated a building for the purpose of installing a food bank there. He spent about $300 USD to remodel the building, got all city licenses, satisfied all international banking laws, and opened the Tagum City Food Bank on July 23, 2010, with the help of Rotary Club of Tagum City and the Chef and Child Foundation.

The Purok leaders have records of every child who lives there, and they know who needs the food. The 24 most severely malnourished children of Mankilam are down 40% of their body weight! They now have food bank cards that allow them to receive 3 kilos of rice and other canned goods every Saturday. They needed at least 200 kilos of rice each week to make that possible.

In July 2011, David purchased 14,000 grams of powdered milk and are giving each of the 218 malnourished kids (1 –-5 years old) in Barangay Mankilam powdered milk every day for 120 days in an effort to raise their weight a bit. They took their weight, feed them and their mothers rice and gulay (sautéed vegetables), and give a one-hour class to the mothers. By the third weekly feeding at the new food bank, and already had children who graduated to normal weight! Lloyd Bayate, 72 months old weighed 13 kilos; on August 7; he weighed 14.5 kilos. Nicole Reyes, 32 months old weighed 10 kilos; now she weighs 11.8 kilos. Jenny Dal, 42 months old, weighed 11 kilos; now she weighs 12.5 kilos. Jericho Sabijon, 59 months old, weighed 12 kilos; now he weighs 14 kilos. All are now normal-weight children! But there are so many more to go.

It soon became evident, however, that his Tagum City Food Bank, was no ordinary food bank. In addition to preparing and serving his luscious meals, Wasson offered weekly nutrition sessions for the Moms, so they could learn how to properly feed their children. With each session, he gave away bags of rice, so the children could eat regular meals through the week.

Feeding the Children

These CHILDREN Don’t get to eat everyday: SOme are so Underweight that their Brains and Bodies wint develop normally.

The main deficiency is their weight, because these children don’t get to eat every day. He would use the BMI Index to classify the children as officially malnourished, which just means they are so skinny and underweight that their brains and bodies won’t develop normally. It’s really very dangerous for their (our) future.

As an educator and retired chef, He seen a desperate need to provide food for these children. Mass feedings (250 kids at a time) are the simplest way to help. He started with two feedings a month, which I paid for out of his $350 USD/month from his teacher’s pension.

As he feed the children, the Purok health care workers recorded their weight, which is thoroughly documented for their records and David’s. It was, and still is, immediately apparent that while these children have homes and family, they are woefully malnourished and dangerously underweight. For example, one 10-year-old girl barely made 16 kilos weight (35.2 pounds). He realized that to help them gain and maintain a healthy weight, they would have to eat everyday.

Magugpo East

It costs us 33 pesos per meal to serve a well balanced meal to 30 severely malnourished babies and 30 mothers every week. It costs us another 81 pesos per child to give them each 3 kilos of rice. That’s a total of 114 pesos per child per week, and in 12 weeks we have restored them to health. 1,368 pesos ($30 usd) to completely restore one child to health and change their lives forever.

Please Donate

We need your support to keep our food bank open. EVERY penny you donate goes to buy fortified rice and other foods. 100% There are no administrative costs, and if there are other costs (like a padlock for the door) I pay for those from my own pocket.PLEASE NOTE the new name in TAGUM CITY CHILDRENS RELIEF INC.

Barangay Magugpo East 14 June

Our next feeding will be this Saturday June 14th from 10;30 am up to 12;30pm at Barangay Magugpo East covered court. We will have our new library books in circulation, and orientation for the new 12 week session of 30 severely malnourished babies 0-6 years old. Thank you all for helping us start another session. One love.
Chef David.

Welcome To Our New Website

This is the new website in progress for the Tagum City Food Bank, please be patient while we are under construction. Feel free to check us out on Facebook for more photos and frequent progress updates. It is our mission to feed every mal nourished child in Tagum City, Mindanao, beginning with the most severe cases. We give 3 kilos of rice per week to each of those we serve, along with a hot meal of rice and vegetables, and a class for the mothers on the importance of keeping their childs weight up, and how to do so.

I retired here in 2008 looking for a quiet and peaceful end to my life. After moving to Mindanao, which is considered dangerous even by Filipino standards, I was invited to a “Thanksgiving” celebration at Purok Garciaville I was struck by the weight of the children, and in asking the Barangay Health Worker I began to see some serious problems that are not always so obvious. the children are happy, clean, mostly well dressed and not usually “looking” distressed. It is when you realize their age that you see how bad their condition is. Children 2 years old that can’t make 5 kilos. As I learned and started feeding the kids every other week, and then once a week i began to see that they needed to eat EVERY day (adlaw-adlaw) to really gain their weight. I also did some research on mal nutrition and its effects on them long term, and statistical information on mal nutrition in the Philippines. For every 100 children here, 25 are malnourished, 26 are chronically mal nourished, and 5 are “wasted”…… that word wasted….I just can’t conceed that child as a wasted effort. They have a chance, a right, and value to us all. 2/3 of all mal nourished children are in SE Asia, 1% are in America. So I spent about $300 USD to remodel the building donated by the Purok Garciaville, got all City licenses and satisfied all international banking laws and opened the Tagum City Food Bank on July 23rd 2010.