Rotary Club of Makati, Philippines

The supplemental feeding program now goes by a new name—Pasiglahin ang Estudyanteng Pinoy, PEP for short. Chairman Freddie Borromeo coined the project title to illustrate the project’s objective of bringing back life and the joy of good health to malnourished school children.

To kick-off its 2011-2011 run, the committee launched on 6th September a module of the supplemental feeding program for 30 first-graders at the Marcela Agoncillo Elementary School in Binondo, Manila. This is the second module at Marcela Agoncillo and the first under Pres. Rene Limjoco; the last school-based module was in Calatagan, Batangas during the term of IPP Jun Rojas.

Mr. Rodelio Ritual of Marcela Agoncillo expressed thanks for choosing the school as the site of the feeding program for the second time. Mrs. Vicky Wieneke, president of Kabisig ng Kalahi, informed that the first module at Maria Agoncillo logged a 99.45% success rate, adding that the performance of the pupils have improved, with some even receiving academic awards last school year. Ms. Sara Lopez of the DTI National Competitiveness Council explained the PEP program and its relevance to the effort to solve the problem of malnutrition, while Janryll Fernandez, corporate affairs manager of Mead Johnson Nutrition, stressed that 0-6 years are crucial to child development and called on the parents and other stakeholders to do their part to ensure the success of the project. Mead Johnson is a corporate sponsor of the program; it provides the milk that is given to the children as a supplement to the daily meals that their mothers prepare.

Watching the students perform musical and literary numbers, PP Freddie expressed delight at discovering that the school is “a bastion of talented students.” After explaining what Rotary is all about, he appealed to the parents to fulfill their responsibilities in the program for the welfare of their own children.

The program ended with the ceremonial turnover of the milk and funds for the feeding program to the parent leaders who will handle the actual feeding of the children.

Present at the launch were International Service Dir. Rodrigo Segura & Ann Marie, Membership B Dir. Ai-Ai Galvez, Joe Kuan, and of course PP Freddie Borromeo & Ann Jojo.