Davao City grants P5.7 M for Busog, Lusog, Talino school feeding program

DAVAO CITY, Philippines— To symbolize the commitment of the local community in addressing malnutrition among school children, the City Government of Davao signed a City Ordinance granting P5.7 million as a support to the Busog, Lusog, Talino (BLT) School Feeding Program. BLT is now assured of continuous implementation in 142 public elementary schools in Davao City for the next five years. The City Ordinance came in at the perfect time as BLT celebrates its 7th year of feeding this school year 2013-2014.

In celebration of this milestone, Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF) recognized the overwhelming support of its local implementing partners (LIPs) in Davao City. The special event was attended by no less than Education Secretary Br. Armin Luistro and Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF) president Grace Tan Caktiong.

The BLT School Feeding Program is an initiative of JGF with partnering institutions that addresses hunger among Grades 1 and 2 pupils to help them stay in school and learn better. BLT provides daily lunch to undernourished public school pupils for 136 days or eight months during the school year (July-March).

In his speech, Luistro lauded the efforts of the City Government of Davao and BLT Partners for the P5.7 million support to BLT. He also noted that this program should be replicated in more public schools. “I am serious that this program is worth plagiarizing. In DepEd schools, we say that honesty is the best policy, no cheating. But this is one good project that I give permission to our principals to copy. All good projects cannot stay in their birthplace,” said Luistro.

“We are very thankful to our Davao local implementing partners who worked very hard thru BLT for our school children. We are certain that this kind of achievement will inspire more communities and partners in other BLT areas so that the program can continue to help in addressing hunger among school children to keep them in school,” Mrs. Tan Caktiong said in her statement.

 This school year, the BLT School Feeding Program covers more than 1,200 public schools in over 200 cities/municipalities nationwide; providing daily lunch to 48,000 pupils selected from Grades 1 and 2 to help address hunger and encourage them to attend school every day. This brings the total number of BLT pupils covered by the program to over 100,000 since its first year of implementation in 2007.

There are three ways to become a BLT partner: 1) donate funds; 2) donate feeding ingredients and materials; and 3) implement BLT as your community relations/outreach program.

Everyone can also help feed pupils by donating through BLT coinbanks found in all Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) stores nationwide: Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal and Burger King.

To learn more about the BLT School Feeding Program, contact (02) 6887124 or send an email at [email protected]; visit www.jollibeegroupfoundation.org.