Charles Agrusolo receives food packs for PWDs in Barangay San Roque Sur, Cabanatuan City from MVGFC Bayanihan project. Photo by Armand Galang
CABANATUAN CITY – “Ang munting bagay na ito ay napakalaging tulong at kaligayahan para sa aming mga miyembro na PWDs.“
A grateful Charles Agrusolo, a chapter head of a PWD group of San Roque Sur here said Thursday after they received packs of rice, vegetables and canned goods from the Bayanihan Project, a blended version of the popularized community pantry, put up by the Manuel V. Gallego Foundation Colleges in this city.
“Sobrang laki po ng epekto sa’min” the wheelchair-bound 23-year-old said of the pandemic.
Besides PWDs, the project also extended food and sanitation products to hundreds of residents in several adopted villages such as Talipapa, San Josef, Accfa, H. Concepcion, Zulueta and Imelda and tricycle drivers’ association in this city, according to Jojo Gallego, MVGFC president.
And on top of the food support, they also handed scholarship vouchers to qualified students.
“Natutuwa po tayo na andami pong mga nag-donate sa ating Bayanihan Project. Lahat ng mga empleyado, faculty, administrators po ng eskwelahan, hindi lang po yan pati mga kaibigan ng eskwelahan, mga suppliers natin, mga contractors natin. Nung nalaman nila na may magandang proyekto tayong ganito ay kusa po silang nagbigay ng kung anu-ano po na puwede nating i-share sa mga kababayan natin na may kailangan,” Gallego said.
He stressed that stakeholders, including tricycle drivers who used to help students have suffered severely due to pandemic. “Since March last year alam naman ninyo ang nangyari, hirap na hirap po sila at mga pamilya nila,” he said.
Under the project, two vans manned by employees were commissioned to deliver the food packs to several barangays while a long table of rice, vegetables, fishes, eggs, hotdogs, among others, was opened for residents of adjoining places inside the school compound in Barangay Zulueta, along Maharlika Highway here in the afternoon.
Maricris Malamug, students’ affairs director, said the Bayanihan Project was also aimed at showing the community that anybody can be of help to the needy during trying times.
She said some of the vegetables were actually harvested inside the school premises. “Meron po kaming maliit na farm kung saan nagtatanim po tayo ng iba’t ibang gulay dun at mga palay,” she said.
“Isa rin sa message na gusto nating ipaabot during this extension program na kahit na po mahirap ang pinagdadaanan natin ngayon ay hindi po ito dahilan para huminto po sa pag-aaral ang mga kabataan at para hindi po nila maabot yung kanilang mga pangarap,” she said, adding that the school decided to offer huge discounts to make education more affordable.
MVGFC is one of the first of nursing schools in Central Luzon, established in 1960 by the country’s first heath secretary Manuel Gallego. The school now offers various courses.
