WITH donation of rice and other goodies continuously pouring in, the National Press Club today announced that it would be providing free meal to at least 2,000 street-dwellers and other indigent residents of Manila living within the vicinity of Intramuros.
NPC Vice President Paul M. Gutierrez, said the Club has scheduled the distribution of the food packs this coming Friday, May 8, 2020.
Gutierrez is in charge of the special committee formed by Pres. Rolly ‘Lakay’ Gonzalo, to help their members cope up with the difficult situation brought about by the ‘COVID-19’ pandemic that prompted Pres. Duterte to place the entire country under a state of national emergency last March.
Gutierrez specifically cited the visit early today of a religious group from Pampanga who went out of their way to deliver the 50 sacks of rice (50-kilos per bag), 500 dressed chicken and 5,000 pieces of egg donated to the Club by former Candaba, Pampanga mayor, Engr. Danilo Baylon and his wife, Apo Iway.
The donation was made possible thru the effort of NPC member, Gina Mape and veteran broadcast journalist, Joel Gorospe, her anchor at radio station, DWWW (774 khz, AM band).
“As we believe that this donation is more than sufficient to provide for the needs of our members, the NPC has decided to again conduct a feeding program for the street-dwellers and other indigent residents of Manila within the vicinity of Intramuros where the NPC building is located,” Gutierrez said.
“Rest assured that not only the members of the press but, as many people as we can reach shall benefit from all the goodwill that the NPC has been getting from our donors. We got them for free and we shall give them away for free,” the official added.
The project follows the two earlier feeding program conducted by the NPC for the benefit of the above residents held last April 7 and April 16, which benefited over 1,000 people.
“Because of this donation, we intend to double the number of beneficiaries this time around,” Gutierrez said.
The NPC also reminded members that because the dressed chicken and the eggs are considered ‘perishable goods,’ these would be distributed on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis.
Gutierrez also said that the ‘second wave‘ of assistance to members, consisting of 5-kilos of rice, milk and multi-vitamins, are already being distributed since last week, with the first wave already accomplished last March, when much of the country was placed on lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lockdown severely affected the income of most Filipinos, including members of the press who are among the most exploited sectors of society. ###
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