MANILA, Philippines – Pizza Hut and Taco Bell Philippines have launched the Deliver Hope fund-raising campaign to support the United Nations World Food Program’s (WFP) fight for zero hunger in the country. Now on its eighth year, the campaign runs from Nov. 11, 2015 to Jan. 15, 2016.
Customers can help by donating cash through coin banks or buying either a postcard featuring Deliver Hope Ambassador Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao for P40.00 or a limited-edition Deliver Hope cup for P50.00 at any of the 174 Pizza Hut stores and Taco Bell branches nationwide. Funds raised will go to WFP’s school feeding program in conflict-affected Central Mindanao.
“We at Pizza Hut and Taco Bell are very pleased to work with the World Food Program once again for Deliver Hope, and we continue to support it by raising awareness about food and nutrition security among our customers and employees,” shared TH Lim, chief operating officer for Pizza Hut and Taco Bell Philippines. “The participation of Manny Pacquiao as campaign ambassador adds a special dimension to our initiative. We hope that the more people are getting involved in this project, the more we can inspire other Filipinos to become responsible in our community,” he added.
“I chose to join because I would like to help our countrymen in conflict-affected areas of Mindanao who have little to eat. I am both a Mindanaoan and a father, and I find it sad that children there go to school every day with almost nothing in their stomachs,” Pacquiao said.
“The program ensures that school children have one less thing to worry about so they can instead focus on their studies. Our monitoring data shows that school meals have helped increase the retention rate of students in WFP-assisted schools by over 90 percent – a testament to how school feeding helps these children stay in school,” said WFP Philippines representative and country director Praveen Agrawal. “We commend and thank Pizza Hut and Taco Bell for eight years of a strong and continued partnership.”
Through the school feeding program, WFP targets 65,000 school children from conflict-affected communities in Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and Maguindanao every schoolyear.