DSWD asked to set up Walang Gutom kitchen here

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Council urges the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-7 to also set up a Walang Gutom kitchen, similar to that of Pasay City.

This call is based on the resolution pushed by Councilor Rey Gealon and supported by the City Council.

Along with this, the City Council, as reported by the city’s PIO, is also urging around 900 members of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry among others to donate food or ingredients and restaurant supply surplus to DSWD-7 that will be turned into “hot meals” for the said food bank.

Around 10,000 families here could benefit from this program.

DSWD’s “Walang Gutom 2027 program itself is a food provision through Strategic Transfer and Alternative Measures Program or Food STAMP.

This is one of the new DSWD flagship programs to decrease incidence of involuntary hunger experienced by low-income households and make them productive citizens of the country.

Through this whole-of-nation approach, the program aims to provide monetary-based assistance in the form of an Electronic Benefit Transfer card that will be loaded with food credits amounting to ?3,000 to purchase a select list of food commodities from partner merchant stores.

The program highlights a mechanism for the delivery of social protection interventions through the use of digital platforms to access food.

Last December, DSWD launched its Walang Gutom kitchen in Pasay City with thousands of individuals being fed. It is said to be the country’s first public and private food bank collaboration/soup kitchen.

DSWD is also reportedly planning to expand the program to different areas in different provinces.

As mentioned earlier, aside from providing meals, the project also aims to address food wastage, allowing partner restaurants to donate their surplus supplies to DSWD for its Walang Gutom kitchen.  — (FREEMAN)