CEBU, Philippines - Gardenia Bakeries Philippines, Inc. (GBPI), makers of the popular Gardenia bread known for its good taste, freshness, softness, oven-baked aroma and nutritive value, launches “Happy Bread Day” together with hundreds of kids from Nayon ng Kabataan, in partnership with KIDS Foundation.
Gardenia’s “Happy Bread Day” celebration is also in line with the commemoration of World Bread Day, a global event that also espouses the philosophy of “sharing” of bread as a meaningful and symbolic humanitarian act and at the same time encourages the exchange of ideas between the world’s bakers and confectioners.
The occasion is an opportunity for the company to showcase its unwavering commitment of providing nutrition to countless kids through its great-tasting bread products, and also serves as a pledge for nutrition by Gardenia to help enrich people’s lives.
A major highlight of the event was the unveiling of the “G-Lock Collage,” a unique and creative idea conceptualized by Gardenia that aims to expand its already-substantial Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts, this time directly involving its customers and even participants of the widely-popular Gardenia plant tour (In Lapu-Lapu, Cebu, Gardenia has now been accepting bookings for plant tour for free).
The “G-Lock Collage” will form a “collage” composed of Gardenia’s unique G-Lock bread tags. The collage will be equivalent to more than 3,000 G-Lock tags, where each G-Lock is equal to one bread loaf. These loaves shall then be given to the chosen charities by Gardenia, which include the Nayon ng Kabataan of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Manila Youth Reception Center (MYRC), in partnership with the K.I.D.S. (Kabataan Inyong Dapat Suportahan) Foundation, an organization whose passion is to help and nurture children from all walks of life to experience growth and development.
After the unveiling, the kids from the partner organizations then proceeded to the famous Gardenia plant tour. The kids, officers from the various partner-beneficiaries, other guests and members of the media had a grand time marveling at Gardenia’s world-class 6K plant, the company’s top-of-the-line bread manufacturing facility capable of producing 6,000 loaves of bread per hour, and were all smiles after the tour.
“Doing CSR is nothing new to us because we have been doing it for several years already. As a responsible corporate citizen, we are committed in doing our share of ‘paying it forward’ and help enrich the lives of other people, especially kids, who rightfully deserve to enjoy the bounty of their youth and have fun. We hope that by continuing on with this unique CSR concept, we would be able to do our share in enriching theirs and other people’s lives as well through nourishment courtesy of Gardenia breads,” explains Simplicio Umali Jr., President and General Manager of Gardenia Bakeries Phils., Inc.
Umali also expressed profound thanks to the members and volunteers of the K.I.D.S. Foundation, and all their other partner-beneficiaries, whose passion is to help kids from all walks of life enjoy their rights and growth as individuals, for making “Happy Bread Day” more meaningful.
“Bread has always been a symbol of unity, generosity and nourishment, and it is through bread that we express our continued responsibility to help build a stronger nation through health and nutrition,” adds Umali.