Deliver Hope fund-raiser to support WFP’s school meals
PIZZA Hut and Taco Bell Philippines have launched the Deliver Hope fund-raising campaign to support the United Nations World Food Program’s (WFP) fight for zero hunger in the country.
Now on its eighth year, the campaign runs until Jan. 15.
Customers can help the campaign by donating cash through coin banks or buying either a postcard featuring Deliver Hope ambassador Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao for P40 or a limited edition Deliver Hope cup for P50 at any of the 174 Pizza Hut stores and Taco Bell branches nationwide.
The money raised will go to WFP’s school feeding program, the 2015 World Hunger Relief program, in conflict areas in central Mindanao.
TH Lim, chief operating officer of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell Philippines, said the companies also supported WFP’s campaign by raising awareness on food and nutrition security among customers and employees.
Pacquiao’s participation in the campaign, Lim said, was appropriate as the boxing champion was born and raised in Mindanao.
Pacquiao said he joined the campaign because he wanted to help Filipinos in conflict-affected areas of Mindanao. As a Mindanaoan and a father, he said, it made him sad that there were children who went to school hungry. WFP’s feeding program motivated students to go to school, he said.
WFP Philippines representative and country director Praveen Agrawal said the UN agency’s monitoring data showed that school meals helped increase the retention rate of students in assisted schools by over 90 percent.
WFP provides beneficiary children with hot and nutritious meals consisting of rice, mung beans and vegetable oil during regular school days. A meal for one child costs only P10.
WFP aims to reach 65,000 schoolchildren from conflict-affected communities in Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao every school year.
Since 2008, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, as part of the global Yum! Brands, have helped raise P27 million for WFP’s school feeding program in the Philippines.
Deliver Hope is part of the 2015 World Hunger Relief program, the world’s largest private sector hunger relief initiative spanning more than 125 countries and territories. Over 41,000 Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants and their 1.5 million employees support the campaign.