2-time SEAG champ Huelgas in race to help provide relief
Triathlete Nikko Huelgas is making the most out of his time and resources during the coronavirus pandemic by conducting relief operations in Metro Manila and Northern Luzon.
As the new program director of Students’ Transformation and Enrichment for Truth (STET), the 28-year-old two-time Southeast Asian Games champion led the foundation in bringing essential goods to hard-to-reach areas and poorest communities in Bulacan, Tarlac and Makati.
STET is a non-stock, non-profit national government organization offering programs for youth development and community-building.
Huelgas also donated his allocation from his sponsors.
“You can see in their eyes, the gratitude of simply acknowledging that they are not forgotten as a Filipino people,” he said.
Apart from relief operations, Huelgas is also assisting the Armed
Forces of the Philippines’ mobile kitchen for the past months.
They recently hosted feeding programs in certain barangays in San Juan City, Malabon, Mandaluyong and Marikina.
Though his training is limited and competitions postponed due to the global health crisis, Huelgas remains active as part of the Philippine Olympic Committee’s five-member athletes’ commission.
They plan to hold an online conference soon to tackle their programs following the Philippine Sports Commission’s mandate to have each national sports associations submit general guidelines of their athletes’ training during quarantine.
“We are still in the process of getting the content done but hopefully by the end of the month, we are ready to announce our scheduled events,” he said.
Athletes have resorted to training on their own at the start of the quarantine last March after sports venues were converted to temporary medical facilities.