“The Busog, Lusog, Talino Program is a legacy we are leaving for the next generation and generations to come–a shared vision of seeing students well-fed, healthy, inspired and motivated to learn. With our collective efforts, I have never felt more confident about our children’s future and the future of this country.”-John Mayo M Enriquez (Assistant to the President for Social Development-AdZU)
In what is deemed a milestone in addressing hunger and malnutrition among public school pupils, the Ateneo de Zamboanga University, through its Center for Community Extension Services, teams up with Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF) to put up the Busog, Lusog, Talino (JGF-BLT) school-based feeding kitchen for public elementary schools in Zamboanga City.
The feeding kitchen was inaugurated at Tetuan Central School SPED Center last February 11, 2019. A pioneer for AdZU and the Jollibee Group Foundation, the stand-alone JGF-BLT Central Feeding Kitchen, back-to-back with DepEd’s School-Based Feeding Program is estimated to feed a yearly average of 500 pupils in Tetuan Central School. With the kitchen built right inside the school, the feeding program is expected to have a boost in terms of efficiency in operations and quality of food served to the students.
Enriquez, during the inauguration of the JGF BLT Kitchen, invited the partners, Jollibee Group Foundation, parents, teachers, and students to “take this as our small victory and a stepping stone as we venture for a healthier Zamboanga City.”
At the core of the implementation of the JGF-BLT Kitchen is AdZU’s Center for Community Extension Services headed by CCES Director Loreta Sta Teresa, as its Local Implementing Partner (LIP) to oversee the program’s entire operations. Other members of the core team include the Department of Education; City Government of Zamboanga; and the school principal of the identified recipient of the Feeding Kitchen. The core group sealed its partnership with the Jollibee Group Foundation with a Memorandum of Understanding and signing of the Pledge of Commitment.
