SMC Tondo center food donation hits 55,000 kg

Conglomer ate San miguel Corp. (SMC) on tuesday said its food assistance for families in the poorest areas in tondo, manila, has reached 55,000 kilograms of staple goods, distributed weekly to families since the health crisis struck in march last year.

the program is just one of the initiatives undertaken by the company’s Better World tondo feeding and community learning center.

Company president ramon S. ang said for the past 10 months, some 465 families have been receiving grocery products every week from its center.

the grocery packs consist of meat and other frozen products and various canned goods from its food unit, San miguel Foods, as well as fish and vegetables.

When the coronavirus pandemic struck last year, the center shifted its operations from providing daily meals to handing out weekly groceries for children attending its afterschool program and their families.

“through our SMC Better World tondo, we’ve been able to have a direct impact on the day-to-day lives of our families there. even if the children are not able to attend daily classes and have their meals at the center, every week, we provide grocery products for their entire families, to make sure they stay healthy, and also help keep more of them at home,” ang said.

“We assure the families that our San miguel Foundation and San miguel Foods will continue this program. We recognize that our poorest families also continue to be the most vulnerable to the impacts of this pandemic, and we will continue to find ways to help them out.”

the company also staged a food donation drive for some 22 provinces hit hard by typhoons towards the end of 2020.

at the height of pandemic restrictions, the tondo facility also provided daily hot meals for locally-stranded individuals at various ports as well as to fire victims, and other poor communities in need.

Better World tondo is the first center under the company’s sustainable communities initiative. It utilizes its idle, unused properties and turns these into community centers that address critical issues.

Its second center, Better World edsa, is a Covid-19 testing laboratory that has served to boost the country’s testing capacity and offers quick and affordable rt-pcr testing.

meanwhile, Better World Diliman provides local farmers a ready-market for their excess produce, increasing their income and lessening food waste.

Contributed Photo SMC’S Better World Tondo facility has been helping some 465 families in Manila’s poorest districts for more than a year now, providing meals and after-school tutorials for children. Since the start of the pandemic, it has been providing weekly food supplies for these families, with grocery donations reaching 55,000 kilos to date.