400 indigent kids receive free meals

Receiving packed meals and food items for free was a rare opportunity for 42-year-old housewife, Lira Navasquez, who lives in a remote area of Carcar City in southern Cebu.

Corn grits and vegetable soup is the usual meal she could afford to prepare everyday because of the meager income of her husband from the construction.

So when one of her children was chosen as beneficiary of the feeding initiative at the Daughters of Saint Teresa in Barangay Valladolid, Carcar City yesterday, she couldn't thank enough for the blessing.

"Para namong mga kabus lisod gyud magpalit og lamian nga pagkaon. Panagsa ra ni kay utanon ra man among madalidali og luto. Bisan og panagsa ra nga tabang pero dako na ning kalipay namo," she shared to The FREEMAN.

A mother of seven, Navasquez and her husband strive to send their children to school. Barangays Valladolid and Poblacion I were picked as target areas for the first feeding program of the Jose R. Gullas Halad Foundation. The activity was part of the annual Halad Pasalamat project of the foundation.

Around 400 children from the two barangays received packed lunch and goodies while their guardians and parents, including Navasquez, brought home food packs.

The Halad Pasalamat, through the initiatives of The FREEMAN chairman Jose “Dodong” Gullas, is a way of giving back to the community through providing humanitarian aid to underprivileged people. The feeding program yesterday was part of the series of activities lined up days into the 84th birthday celebration of Gullas on February 1.

For Gullas, the two barangays are significant because of its relation to the late Archbishop Teofilo Camomot, whom he had admire for his generosity and love for the poor. These are also part of the district where he used to serve as congressman.

The late Cebuano prelate is now being considered for sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church and the cause for his beatification had been advancing.

Camomot was born and raised in Poblacion 1 while Valladolid is where his remains are burried at the compound of the Daughters of Saint Teresa, a religious congregation founded by him. Gullas built a museum in Barangay Valladodolid in honor of Camomot.