Tagum 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.