Introduction to World Central Kitchens
Ms. Cherrie Atilano CEO and President of AGREA Agricultural Systems International happens to be a supporter of NVC. She told Ms. Millie about World Central Kitchens (WKC). This is a group that AGREA had been working with to supply food produce and rice to earthquake-stricken communities in Cebu. WCK has more resources than NVC and would be able to provide long-term support. So Ms. Cherrie offered to submit our network in Cebu to WCK for possible inclusion. Fortunately, WCK agreed to do so. So, we endorsed our ground partners in Cebu to WCK. Confident that the people we had served were in good hands, we wrapped up our Cebu earthquake relief operations.
Planning for the Next Chapter
When we ended our relief distribution operations in Northern Cebu, we still had some donatated cash for Cebu earthquake relief operations on hand. We decided to use this to provide psycho-social support for some of the affected families. We began by seeking out a group of Cebu-based psychologists trained to provide the right psychosocial support. Fortunately, we were able to find such a group. On October 23, a team from NVC met online with psychologist Kirk Patrick Castro and Lenbi Laborte (a representative of CENVISNE, a network of Cebu-based NGOs). A big thank you Erica Martin, NVC’s “on-call” psychologist, for arranging the meeting.
The Start of a Healing Journey
