LETTER OF TRIUMPH

Letter of Triumph

Dear my fellow ALL,

The “Kalusugan mo, Sagot ko” feeding program as sponsored by the Citra Mina Group of Companies celebrated its third monthsary last September 11, 2016.

The said feeding program targeted all the malnourished children of Brgy. Fatima, General Santos City, Philippines as reported by the Barangay Local Government Unit and is being facilitated by company. Some of you could be wondering what is this program and how it is going or if it is still ongoing. We have been feeding ONE HUNDRED SIXTY FOUR children for the last three months already, from July 11, 2016 to September 30, 2016, or Sixty days to be specific, because we ONLY do our feeding during weekdays, and we will continue to feed them until December 9, 2016.

Others would be shocked and say that that is such a big help, while others might contradict and say it’s too small. Well, in view of enlightening you with the current status of our Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, I would like you to meet some of our fortunate beneficiaries.

Joy Labang

Joy Labang, 11 months old and the youngest of the four children of Mr. Teodoro Labang and Mrs. Arlyn Labang. Joy’s family is very poor they don’t even have their own land to build their own home, they are informal settler and their home is a makeshift of different kind of materials which makes it very susceptible to occupational hazards. Mr. Labang, Joy’s father works as a tricycle driver before, but since the ban of the city government on colorum tricycles, he’s basically just staying at home, doing some odd jobs here and there just to making just a few peso. The situation became so much worse when Mr. Labang contracted some sort of infected lesion on his right foot which hinders him to walk and work normally. Wife, Mrs. Labang is tasked with taking care of their children the whole day every day.

Because of the “Kalusugan mo, Sagot ko” feeding program, Joy now has a stable source of food every weekday, and she’s not the only one who benefits from the program because even her other siblings also frequent the feeding program venue and the BHW’s and BNS’ also give them some of the food. Before the program started Joy weighed in at 7 kilos and 59 centimeters in height but the most recent profiling shows that her weight and height already increased, now she’s at 9 kilos and 69 centimeters in height.

Jenelyn Empleyo

Another example is Jenelyn Empleyo, 4 years old and the fifth daughter of Mr. Agapito Empleyo and Mrs. Jenefer Empleyo. When I arrived at their home, informally built beside the concrete fence of the Mindanao State University (MSU), I honestly felt like crying, I had seen Jenelyn a few times already and her face was already registered in my memory as the joyful and smiling girl but I never really thought that this is her real situation. I don’t know where she is getting the courage to still smile, maybe because of her young age and innocence.

Mr. Empleyo works as a laborer in a local bread and pastry shop, his salary is not enough to sustain the daily needs of his family while Mrs. Empleyo does some laundry for their neighbors in exchange for a small fee to augment the family needs. Because of the “Kalusugan mo, Sagot ko” program Jenelyn can now eat before going to school even if her parents don’t have money to buy their food, from her previous weight of 11 kilos and height of 92 centimeters, she is now at 13 kilos and 95 centimeters consecutively.

That’s what our company’s simple initiative brought to these angels. Their health and well beings improved, despite the sad realities of their family life because of our little help.

Chris John Silada

But if you’re still not convinced, here is Chris John Siladan, already 4 years old and the son of Mr. Christopher and Mrs. Dina Jane Siladan. His father is a construction worker and his mother takes care of him and his other siblings. Life is hard and food is scarce because of the family’s small income.

Before, Chris John used to be a frail kid who is always sick, but because of the “Kalusugan mo, Sagot Ko” feeding program he is now close to the ideal weight and height for kids his age. From the previous 12 kilos and 91 centimeters, he’s now at 13 kilos and 97 centimeters.

The Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS) and Barangay Health Workers (BHW) in the area together with the Committee Chairman on Health and Sanitation of the Barangay Local Government Unit, during my interviews and random chats with them concur that the program initiated by the company really helped the beneficiaries who are among the poorest of the poor in their community. They also said that they are the same beneficiaries of the developmental policies of the barangay and also of the city government. That’s why with the additional help coming from the feeding program to their children, there will really be hope for these unfortunate families and their lives will be alleviated.

The chart above shows the ideal height and weight for childrens aged 0 to 5 years old, It can also be seen that our featured beneficiaries Princess Joy, Jenelyn and Chris John do not yet meet the ideal body mass for their respective age. But it can also be noted that they made some significant progress and it is almost certain that the ideals on the chart will be achieved by the end of this program. This positive change is uniform to almost all of the 164 beneficiaries, it is not proper to call them malnourished anymore because their health, resistance and their overall well being are improved as manifested by the increase in their weights and heights. So, I am just proud to be part of this, it has only been three challenging but fruitful months and there are three more to come. Despite this being too early and the uncertainties of the coming months, I can proudly and honestly say from the depths of my heart and the capacity of my understanding that we have triumphed already, our cause is half won.

I would also like to grab this opportunity to express gratitude to all the support groups, the BNS’ and BHW’s, although they might not be able to read this, for taking the time to cooperate with us by helping in the actual preparation of the food of the beneficiaries and for accompanying me everyday of the profiling and individual abode visitations. The Barangay Local Government Unit of Brgy. Fatima, for giving us the opportunity to help their poor constituents and in augmenting in the process of the program implementation. To my co-workers, for the sacrifice because we have to set aside some of our employee development programs, just to give way for “Kalusugan mo, Sagot ko”. To our company drivers and the Motor Pool Staff who helped in the transportation of the team during the purchasing, delivery and distribution of the feeding program supplies, the whole Sanitation Crew for their support in providing the firewood needed to cook the food for the beneficiaries and lastly to teammates Ms. Queenileen Arindaeng and Mr. Abdul Rahman Minalang for the extra amount of effort that helped for the success of this program.

I, would like to thank all these people for their unwavering support and trust that made the past three months of this intervention so much easier.

The amount of money allocated for the implementation of this social alleviation program is nothing compared to the joy it gives the company to be able to help and touch those poor but beautiful lives. The organization will be remembered, we will all be remembered, and we are lucky to become part of their lives.

We all became part of something BIG and POSITIVE!

You all deserve much bigger than a simple THANK YOU,

JHOMARIE B. MADRES