Jollibee kicks off BLT school feeding program

MANILA, Philippines - Jollibee Foundation marked the annual nationwide start of its Busog, Lusog, Talino (BLT) School Feeding Program for school year 2012-2013 with a ceremonial launch in L.R. Pascual Elementary School in Quezon City recently. The event was attended by Jollibee Foods Corp. chairman and CEO Tony Tan Caktiong and Jollibee Foundation president Grace Tan Caktiong as well as officials from the Department of Education.

The (BLT) School Feeding Program is an initiative that addresses hunger among Grades 1 and 2 pupils and helps them to stay in school and learn better. BLT provides daily lunch to undernourished public school pupils for 136 days or eight months during the school year (July-March).

“BLT has shown that it is possible to address hunger among pupils in a systematic and sustainable way. We hope the program will continue to inspire and will create a ripple effect not only in our country but in other places to help children stay in school and learn better,” Tan Caktiong said. BLT is funded and implemented in cooperation with local government units (LGUs), corporations, academic institutions, civic organizations and private individuals.

This school year, the BLT School Feeding Program covers 1,090 public schools in 200 cities/municipalities nationwide; providing daily lunch to 38,000 pupils selected from Grades 1 and 2 to help address hunger and encourage them to attend school everyday. This brings the total number of BLT pupils covered by the program to over 60,000 since its first year of implementation in 2007.

The L.R. Pascual Elementary School has been a beneficiary of the program since school year 2010-2011, enabling them to provide daily lunch to 40 Grades 1 and 2 pupils every year. Also present in the ceremonial launch were DepEd Assistant Secretary Tonisito Umali, Ateneo de Manila University vice president for social development Jaime Hofileña, Jollibee Franchisees Association president Jun Padilla, Health Express Philippines’ president Anna Pascual-Lanning, Diversey Philippines’ Corporate Social Responsibility lead Mildred Ebuengan, and officers from Rotary Clubs of Quezon City, San Juan and Mandaluyong.

BLT has become a platform for communities to unite against hunger in school as local leaders find ways and means to generate needed resources. Notable examples are the cases of Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya and San Jose, Nueva Ecija where the local government units have fully integrated BLT in their respective education programs. In Davao City, the City Government committed P5.7 million to sustain the program over the next three years. In Negros Occidental, the provincial Sangguniang Kabataan Federation joined forces with LGUs and stakeholders in covering a total of 102 schools, the biggest BLT coverage in a single province.

There are three ways to become a BLT partner: 1) donate funds; 2) donate feeding ingredients and materials; and 3) implement BLT as your community relations/outreach program.

Everyone can also help feed pupils by donating through BLT coinbanks found in all Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) stores nationwide: Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal and Burger King.

For more information about the BLT School Feeding Program, contact (02) 688-7124 or send an email at [email protected]. Visit www.jollibeefoundation.org.