TYF supports feeding centers in the vicinity of the dumpsite in Payatas for children 2 – 8, the age when brain development is most critical.

In 1998, a group of donors started supporting a feeding program in St Joseph the Worker Chapel in Litex, Quezon City. Over the years, they worked with the missionaries of the Brothers of Divine Providence to open nine centers.

During the Covid lockdown years, the feeding program contracted TYF to prepare 230 rice and vegetable packs distributed for families every other week. Onsite feeding of children has now resumed.

As recounted by Ms. Marites Ingles, “It’s the small experiences that enriched us and warmed our heart - witnessing how the children eat pabilisan, their discipline in praying before and after the meals, washing before eating and brushing their teeth after meals, their magandang umaga and welcome Ate when we arrive. Kapamilya namin ang mothers and children in the feeding center. We nourish the child, not just feed a hungry stomach."

It’s a bit of a wonder that Genes Comoso, his wife, and their nine children were able to squeeze into their old house.

So when their new house was being constructed, the San Roque Parish of Bagacay, Talibon, Bohol donated additional lumber to accommodate everyone more comfortably.

The family of Genes Comoso is one of 37 recipients of new houses built by teams of volunteers and construction workers coordinated by the Diocese of Talibon Social Action Center, and funded by TYF’s Super Typhoon Odette rehabilitation funds.

Through the DSAC, TYF also provided GI sheets and plywood to several hundred other families whose houses could still be repaired.

Persons deprived of liberty (PDL) are typically considered pariahs in society. And yet when we think of who are the lost, the last, and the least that God calls on us to serve, do the PDLs not fit this description?

Tanging Yaman Foundation is committed to helping feed the PDLs whose daily food budget is just P70. This week, we will be providing a total of 2,500 kg of kalabasa from Pangasinan to the Philippine Jesuit Prison Service and to the Restorative Justice Ministries of the various dioceses in Metro Manila and Rizal.

Maraming salamat to the Restorative Justice Ministries of the Archdiocese of Manila and to the Caritas Manila delivery team for bringing kalabasa to the women’s dorms in the Makati and Mandaluyong City Jails, and to the Diocese of Kalookan that delivered the kalabasa to the Caloocan City Jail, Navotas Jail, and the Malabon Jail Women and Men's Dorms.

It is ironical that many carpenters and construction workers in the Philippines cannot afford a decent house for themselves.

Ruben Tupos is a carpenter in Ubay, Bohol; he and his wife Rebecca, who works as a manicurist and occasional agricultural worker, have three children. Their old house was patched together with discarded pieces of wood and GI sheets.

Thanks to the TYF Super Typhoon Odette rehab fund and our partnership with the Diocese of Talibon Social Action Center, the Tupas family moved into a new house constructed by the St Vincent Ferrer Parish HALAD Team. The parish volunteers also provided colorful curtains, blankets, table cloth, and grocery items.

Today, Labor Day, we pay tribute to Ruben Tupos and all workers who deserve a fair wage and safe working conditions. We also thank the parish HALAD team and to Rev Fr Epifanio Gupita, the DSAC Director and Parish priest who blessed their house. St Joseph the Worker, pray for us.