Jollibee supports large-scale feeding in schools
In its commitment to support education and address malnutrition among public elementary schoolchildren, Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF), the social responsibility arm of Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC), is working with various schools and communities across the country to implement the Busog-Lusog-Talino (BLT) program. From 2007 to 2015, BLT reached more than 1,500 schools, helping over 165,000 pupils reach normal weight.
Efficient large-scale school feeding
In 2016, the funding for the Department of Education’s (DepEd) School-Based Feeding Program covered all undernourished public elementary pupils in the country. Seeing the potential of large-scale school feeding, JGF endeavored to build BLT school feeding kitchens to complement the government’s existing feeding initiative. Banking on Jollibee Foods Corp’s expertise as a food company, the BLT kitchen is designed to centralize food preparation and distribution to surrounding schools. Each BLT kitchen can feed hundreds of children daily with less time and effort.
While DepEd took charge of school selection and covered funds for feeding, JGF built the kitchens, provided equipment, and facilitated training on food preparation, distribution and management of parent volunteers. The LGUs and other partners also pitched in for the allowance and medical screening of parent volunteers and coordinated the daily pick-up and delivery of food from the BLT kitchen to the schools.
Currently, there are 22 BLT kitchens serving over 16,000 pupils in more than 150 schools across the country.
For 2018, JGF plans to build 20 more kitchens – significantly increasing its capacity to serve nutritious food to the most vulnerable schoolchildren.
Community effort
“Constructing a building is simple, but what makes that building significant is the people who came together and helped one another,” Gisela Tiongson, JGF executive director said.
What makes BLT different is that the feeding is done in a large scale and organized manner – consistent, continuous, reliable and cost efficient – so more children could benefit from better nutrition. Every day, principals and feeding coordinators oversee the kitchen operations while parent volunteers prepare, cook, serve, pack and distribute food to participating schools.
“The journey was very enriching. Those who benefit from the school feeding kitchen are the pupils and the community, while the parent volunteers and the community ensure that the students are well-fed. Because of the BLT kitchen, the meals served to the pupils are nutritious and accurately measured. The parent volunteers are welltrained and are patient enough to ensure that the meals are well-prepared,” shared Katrese Sabrine, one of JGF’s partners from the Negros Occidental Division of the Department of Education.
With partners from DepEd, LGUs, NGOs, academe, foundations, and the local community, BLT hopes to bring joy to the lives of even more schoolchildren – one nutritious meal at a time.