Have you ever been reminded by your parents to not be picky with food or to finish eating your left overs – since there are a lot of hungry people out there?

Non-government organization Scholars of Sustenance (SOS) Philippines commits itself in helping solve both the overwhelming problem in hunger and the amount of edible food wasted in the country through feeding the poor communities with unconsumed, quality surplus food.

World Hunger Day was observed last May 28. According to a survey conducted by Social Weather Station (SWS) in March, 14.2% of Filipino families were hungry or had nothing to eat at least once in the first quarter of 2024, surpassing the prior quarter’s hunger incidence of 12.6%.

Meanwhile, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Food Waste Index Report in 2024 indicated that Filipino household food waste amount to 26 kg per capita, or 2.95 million tons a year. All these surplus foods have a critical impact on the environment as they rot, end up in landfill, and lead to more human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

As an environment group which started in the Philippines in October 2022, SOS solidified itself on the need to battle both hunger and the environmental harms that food waste may contribute. In fact, they don’t like calling the surplus food as “waste”.

“We don’t wanna call it waste, that’s why we call it surplus food, kasi it’s very much edible pa. So nakikita mo ‘yung level ng surplus food, sa hunger – so parang imbes na itapon natin ‘yung surplus food na ‘yun, dalhin natin sa mga nangangailangan,” SOS Philippines fundraising and partnership assistant manager Patricia Rabal said.

The group has now fed a total of 120 marginalized communities, orphanages, poor areas, and people deprived of liberty with amounting to 1.2 million meal packs as of this writing. But they’re not alone on their cause – their partners Allianz PNB donated a food truck named “Kagat”, while Loaves x Fish Foundation provided them a safe and clean facility for their preparation and repacking process.

Food truck named 'Kagat'

 “What this food truck do is take a “bite” out of hunger and replace that with pag-asa – with hope,” Allianz PNB chief distribution officer Chris Cabognason explained the meaning of the truck’s name. “It’s a reality sa Pilipinas na maraming communities ang hindi nakakakain ng tatlong beses sa isang araw. So ‘yun nga ang ano natin when we talk about poverty, it’s inability of people to actually take care of themselves – ‘yung regular meals.”

Meanwhile, John Carlo Perez, the program manager for social services of Loaves x Fish, underscored the essence of their foundation’s name from the Bible texts and correlated it with their vision of a society where the marginalized sector gained access to adequate, nutritious food.

Recently, they visited Our Lady of the Poor Parish in Western Bicutan, Taguig City to distribute meals to poor children. Parents could not help but also express excitement seeing the donated loaves that came along the food packs.

“Happy po kami, kasi maraming bata ang napapakain. Sana po mag-continue,” Luisa Pahatin stressed, a member of the church’s social action.

SOS Philippines staff preparing the mealFood serving

Food rescue process

Rabal detailed that they pick a community through an urgency indicator of level 1 to 5, with 5 being the area with lowest income and no regular access to food. They usually target level 4 and 5.

She also emphasized that SOS and its partners highly value food safety, since the donated meals are surplus food from various hotels and restaurants.

“On the donor side, part of our agreement is for them to first-hand see which food items are already not for consumption. Kasi usually kapag mga hotels or manufacturers, they would know naman na if it’s still good for consumption. Kasi the ones they give to us are the ones na not for selling but for human consumption it’s very much okay pa,” she stated.

“On our side naman when we pick up, we have what we call food rescue ambassadors – they go around the Metro, they talk with donors, they pick up the food. They also do a sensory check. They have the right to refuse food items if they see na it’s already about to spoil or about to expire,” she added.

Preparing the donated foods on Loaves x Fish foundation's facility

The group feeds an average of 4 to 5 communities in the National Capital Region each day – yes, every day! They start cooking at 6 a.m. and ensure that meals will be dispatched by 9 a.m. for lunch time.

 Packing the meal

Literacy training

SOS does not want the communities to form a toxic dependency on them, so they also conduct learning sessions to educate their recipients regarding financial and employment matters.

Their missions are also “rotational” – they target different communities by supplemental feeding so they often meet new faces each day.

This way, Rabal said they can prevent overdependance on SOS as givers and still promote seeking opportunities to feed one’s own family.

Start at home

Interested volunteers can approach SOS Philippines on their Facebook page to help preparing donated meals especially on weekends. 

But Rabal emphasized – combatting hunger and lessening the impact of wasted food to the environment begins at home.

“It’s really being aware of your food consumption or habits. It starts with the individual. Funnily, or ironically, the biggest contributor to food waste is the househood level,” she stated.

The fact that “surplus food” has to be rescued for them to not cause damages to the world – while there are numerous Filipino people who brace the day with an empty stomach – means most of us are taking advantage of the blessings that we receive and there are also a lot of communities we still have to reach out to.

Taking words from Cabognason’s interview with ABS-CBN News, “You cannot have a future if your people are hungry”.