St. Luke’s foundation lends hand to food charity

St. Luke’s Medical Center Foundation (SLMCF), the corporate social responsibility arm of the SLMC hospital, has been conducting medical missions and providing scholarship grants since its inception on 28 August 2012. Recently, it has expanded its social outreach by helping a food charity fight hunger in the country.

In its recent Facebook post, SLMCF announced that it has forged a partnership with Rise Against Hunger Philippines (RAHP) to distribute the latter’s rice-soy meal packs to communities served by the foundation.

SLMCF president Dr. Benjamin S.A. Campomanes Jr. received the food donation from RAHP and pharmaceutical firm Pfizer during a recent turnover ceremony.

“This partnership will go a long way in helping to supplement the meals of underserved Filipinos,” SLMCF said in the post.

The rice-soy meal packs consist of vitamin and mineral sachet, white rice, flavoring sachets, dehydrated vegetable or fruit, and dehydrated soy protein. The vegetables — squash, alugbati, sweet potato tops and saluyot — are sourced from indigenous farmers from the provinces and dehydrated by another RAHP partner so it can be added into the pack.

One rice-soy meal pack can feed six children when cooked as a rice meal or around 12 to 15 children if served as porridge or soup. One rice-soy meal pack is also good for a family of eight to 12 members.

Meanwhile, the foundation announced nine recipients of its Batch 2029 Doctor of Medicine scholarship. They are Christia Erica Abinoja, Ann Nicole Zalameda, Mary Joyce Chang and John Claude Gerald Ynion of the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman; Karen Calma of UP-Manila; Shaina Pamela Fuentecilla of UP-Los Baños; Isaac Jedd Abrenica of Ateneo de Manila University; Marla Gasco of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila; and Ria Lizette Ricaro of University of the East.