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.
To David & his crew: You’re all doing ingredible work ! God bless you all !