Project PEARLS turned the weekly feeding program to a “Hunger Relief Program”. The aim is to provide healthy meals to the most malnourished kids and to ensure that they do not go to school with empty stomachs.

For children living in extreme poverty, breakfast can be their one and only meal. A meal that can define if they will survive or not. This is a heartbreaking reality that Project PEARLS aims to change. Through our Hunger Relief Program, we want to provide a delicious and nutritious meal to children to help decrease the incidence of malnutrition.

This is done everyday in Helping Land, a slum community in Tondo, Manila. Helping Land sits on an active dumpsite and is home to hundreds of families whose main source of livelihood is scavenging from garbage.  Most of them fill their hunger by relying on “pagpag” – leftover food from restaurants scavenged from trash. In Filipino, “pagpag” literally means “to shake-off”, and this refers to shaking the dirt, maggots, and flies off the edible portion of the leftovers.  Not only the children do not get the nutritional requirements they need, but they are also very prone to food-borne diseases which, often, can be fatal.

For more info, please visit this article.

The Hunger Relief Program Flow:

• 7:15 to 7:30 AM: Meet-up with volunteers
• 7:45 to 8:00 AM: Briefing and preparations
• 8:00 to 9: 15 AM: Serving of meals
• 9:15 to 9:30 AM: Clean up time (washing the dishes, sweeping, etc.)

Join us every Thursday and Friday and show your love for the kids!

Meet-up Details: 7:30 am, in front of Inland Corp. gate,  Radial Road 10, Tondo (wait outside the gate and do not go in INLAND). Please follow the map so you won’t get lost: https://goo.gl/maps/hziT9jwZdvfm3LTb6

Once you are included to volunteer for this date, it is already given that you may attend. No need to wait for a text message for another confirmation.

Reminders: 

       1. For commute: 

         Get off at LRT-1 Tayuman Station  
         Ride Pritil Puregold jeepney   
         Get off at Puregold Pritil/Tayuman  
         Ride tricycle to Inland Corp. R-10
         Take a u-turn in front of Shell Gas Station w/ overpass in front  (tricycle fare is 50 pesos only)  
         Get off in front of Inland Corp. blue gate

       2. Please text Ate Divine at 0917-436-5041or Ate Jonalyn at 0927-247-9837 when you are already in front of Inland Corp. blue gate so our community volunteer will meet you. DO NOT GO IN. Just wait in the outside area. From there it will be a 5-minute walk to the Pearls courtyard.

       3. As a precautionary measure during this COVID-19 threat, we are checking all people entering the courtyard with an infrared thermometer. Please bring alcohol/alcogel. If you have a cold or cough, we discourage you from attending. 

       4. There is limited to no parking space in the area.

       5. Wear rain boots or footwear you can use for muddy areas.

Before volunteering with us, please first read our Child Protection Policy, Code of Conduct and Volunteer Guidelines. And kindly fill out our Health Declaration Form at least two days before the outreach activity. 

Learn more about Project PEARLS: www.projectpearls.org