Organizers of the country’s first community pantry launched its Adopt A Community Pantry Project (ACCP) today, Aug. 23, to sustain the spontaneous



bayanihan



effort that has grown into



more than 6,700 pantries nationwide.

The movement has also partnered with De La Salle Brothers, Inc., and Ateneo de Manila’s Tanging Yaman Foundation to receive donations and provide official receipts and certificates of tax deduction for donors who require such.

Ana Patricia Non, organizer of the first community pantry in Quezon City’s Maginhawa Street, set up a kindness cart in April amid a surge in coronavirus infections to help people affected by the prolonged lockdowns. A cardboard sign in the cart bore the note “Give what you can, take what you need.”

“



Minsan humihina din ang



donations [Sometimes, donations taper off],” said Ms. Non at today’s event.

To institutionalize the assistance the pantries have been extending to the food insecure, the ACCP recommends getting in touch with



a pantry of choice near one’s location



,



signing up to adopt a community pantry



, or sending a message to



communitypantryph@gmail.com



for the Maginhawa Community Pantry to find a beneficiary pantry on the donor’s behalf.

It also recommends family, friends, village associations, or parishes to pool resources to commit to supporting a pantry for a period of time. In-kind donations of books, school supplies, hygiene essentials, are also welcome.

Those who need a receipt and a report on where and how their cash donations were used can go through:

• 
  Tanging Yaman Foundation, Inc.
  
  
  Metrobank Peso Checking Account
• Account number: #448-7-44800988-9
• E-mail:
  
  
  slb@affiliate.ateneo.edu
  
  

• 
  De La Salle Brothers, Inc.
  
  
  
  RCBC Greenhills Business Center
  
  
  Account number: 7590-569081
• E-mail:
  
  
  kadauno@delasalle.ph
  
  

All donors will remain anonymous.

“This is a compelling story of the Good Book, when 5,000 people in a desert were fed with two fish and five loaves,” said Bro. Armin A. Luistro, FSC, former president of De La Salle University who also served as Education Secretary. “It’s something that is beautiful in its smallness and inspiring in its greatness.” —



Patricia B. Mirasol