Founder and President

Background:

I was born and raised in Bohol, Philippines.  In 1992, my father was able to petition for our family to move to the United States, with my mother, sister and two brothers.  After 14 years, we were finally together as a family in Washington State. Unfortunately, five months later my mother past away which put the family in desperate need of help. Thankfully, we received help from a few relatives within the Boholano and Filipino community. Looking back now, twenty-three years ago, I am truly grateful for all the support my family received. Throughout those years my father did his best to support our family with one income by taking multiple shifts at work. During our middle and high school years, my younger brother and I never had to worry about having enough money to purchase food because we were able to receive the benefit from the school meal program provided for low-income households.

Now having a family of my own, I feel blessed to have a loving wife and three daughters. Every year I return home to Bohol, Philippines to visit my relatives and friends. While visiting, I stay at my home where I grew up. In 2015, my two older daughters visited Bohol and quickly realized that it’s a complete different way of life.

How I got involved:

A few years ago while visiting home in Bohol, Philippines, with my older brother, we were approached by the Principal from the local public elementary school from our home town.  She shared with us the growing concerns that roughly over 50% of students in her school are malnourished.  She also shared that her students have trouble learning and that some children do not get their first meal until the late afternoon. She asked us if we could donate money to provide meals for the students.  Without hesitation, we were able to gather the funding necessary to make this program work for the entire school year. That event has created my passion to start this program since I have my own children and I could not imagine a child not having anything to eat until the afternoon. I have learned that some children go to school who are not able to focus because they have not had anything to eat or children missing school because they are looking for ways to earn money to buy food.