Mingo Meals at Espoir School of Life

In December 2019, we shipped Mingo Meals the Espoir School of Life situated in a Gawad Kalinga resettlement area of Siargao island. People in this community were identified as landless persons living in danger zones with little or no means to sustain themselves. The school enrolled undernourished students from the community in the Mingo Meals Feeding Program.
Our ground partner, Teacher Jerlyn Rabaca, took charge of feeding the children their daily Mingo Meals. She found creative ways of using Mingo. For example, she used it as an ingredient in pan de sal (bread buns) and champorado (chocolate rice porridge). The children enjoyed the Mingo snacks prepared by their teacher. The children gained weight and were more alert during their lessons. Unfortunately, the school closed three months later because of Covid. However, Jerlyn made sure to supply the children with their remaining Mingo Meals to finish the program at home.
Young Mary Rose proudly holds up a basket with her Mingo Meals.

Typhoon Odette Emergency Response

Super Typhoon Odette ravaged parts of the Philippines in mid December 2021. Siargao Island was one of the worst hit places.  We tried to get in touch with Jerlyn immediately after the storm but only got to connect with her on New Year’s Day. Sadly, we learned that much of the school, like the rest of Siargao was in ruins.
And young Mary Rose, like many of the locals, had suffered injuries.
We immediately prepared boxes of Mingo Meals for the Espoir students. Along with the Mingo Meals, we sent water filters that we had purchased from AIDFI. Clean drinking water continues to be scarce on the island so the water filters will provide the community with a sustainable supply of potable water.

Mingo for Siargao

Our ground partners at Espoir are now helping children outside their own community. Because vegetables have become scarce, they hope to provide nutritious Mingo Meals for other children on the island.
We aim to feed at least 500 children in each of the nine municipalities of Siargao with a daily serving of Mingo for two months.  To date, 170 children from the ages of 1 to 10 have already started on their daily servings of Mingo Meals.

Big Batch of Hope

A big shipment of Mingo Meals is now on its way to Siargao. This was made possible thanks to many kind-hearted individuals who literally took steps to help children in need. The students, families & staff of Canadian American School raised enough to feed 500 children daily for 2 months through their #CASWalkForHope2022. And the participants of the #MikelLovinaJamborun2022 raced to raise a total of 85,439 Mingo Meals.

Help the Kids of Siargao

Now, many more children in Siargao will be on the road to better nutrition. However, there are still so many more children to feed. Please help us reach out to more of them. It costs only USD8.00 to insure that an island child will be supplied with Mingo for two months. If you’d like to help us with this endeavor, please send us an email at info@nvcfoundation-ph.org