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Dietary Program Serves 600 Students Daily at Daycare Centers in Taguig, Philippines

on  March 21, 2024

In the Philippines, the work to end hunger starts with a meal by providing immediate nutritional assistance and extends beyond it to create real impact for families and their children. As 29% of children are affected by stunted growth, Rise Against Hunger Philippines implements a dietary supplementation program at local daycares to improve access to education and nutritious meals for children facing malnutrition in Taguig, a city in metro Manila, Philippines. With five centers in the area, the daycares serve more than 600 students ages 3 to 5 each day, where teachers, volunteers and parents prepare meals donated by Rise Against Hunger Philippines at the daycares with additional ingredients, including local fruits and vegetables. To ensure students continue to have access to meals during the summer months, schoolchildren receive take-home rations. For Aiza, a mother and program participant, these meals provide peace of mind, “They will get their food from the school feeding program and bring it home. He brings food to his brother and his older sister. That’s why the feeding program is a great help.”This dietary supplementation program is among the many programs led by global network member Rise Against Hunger and in-country impact partners International Care Ministries and Convoy of Hope, serving more than 1.73 million people in the country each year.

Mary Fe Delos Reyes, Child Development Worker in San Jose Daycare Center

Child Development Worker in San Jose Daycare Center Mary Fe Delos Reyes says, “We have [the] school feeding program. So, it’s a great help because they learn to eat, may it be champorado [chocolate rice] porridge, or coco-milk dish. So, at least, they have a good start in eating.” She further explains that the nutritional quality of diverse foods has tremendously impacted the overall health and well-being of the students, encouraging parents to enroll their children at their local daycare center.At the San Jose Daycare Center, this dietary supplementation program provides hope for a healthier tomorrow, kickstarting a family journey out of hunger, one meal at a time. Mary says, “The parents also enjoyed and are happy because their children, more than the things they learn, even with the matter of their health, has been provided.” Many students have gained weight and have more energy to sing, play and learn during class since the feeding program began at the daycare — paving the way toward brighter futures for children and their families. Watch the video below to learn more about the Taguig School Feeding Daycare and hear from the program participants whose children now have access to quality education and nutritious meals — an impact YOU have made possible!Your gift leads to resilience and self-sufficiency for people across the globe, one meal at a time. Consider joining the movement to end hunger with a gift of $10 or more to ensure more families receive hot meals from feeding programs in the Philippines and beyond.

About the Author

Maggie is Rise Against Hunger's Director of Marketing and Communications and has been a team member since 2016. Maggie works to spread the word about the mission to end hunger and to engage people globally to take action.

More Posts by Maggie Luckadoo

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.