By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – As community pantries sprout in the country, residents here and in some areas in Negros Occidental also made the same initiative to help others who are struggling to survive, especially with their daily needs.
For 25-year-old Kim Lizares, putting up a community pantry with some of her friends, is their own little way to lessen the burden of others especially by residents who are in dire need of food and other basic goods.
Lizares’s group started to display basic goods at the back of their car along 12th Lacson Street, but a resident in the area who also wanted to put up the same, lent them some chairs and tables.
Rice, eggs, vegetables, vitamins, and medicines were among the products they have gathered through donations and displayed in their community pantry, which is one of the few community pantries set up here recently.
It is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but donations given beyond this schedule may still be accepted.
Lizares believed that through this initiative, people can also learn the value of sharing and taking what they only need by considering the needs of others.
What is good about Lizares’s community pantry is that it allows people to donate, as well as get some help. She encouraged other residents to also do the same.
Aside from in-kind donations, they also welcome volunteers to be at the community pantry to ensure that minimum health protocols are observed.
The Sowing Legacy Movement Inc., a non-government organization, also opened their own community pantry for the residents of Barangay 27 here.
A milk tea shop along Araneta Street in front of Negros Occidental High School here also opened a small community pantry outside the store.
Meanwhile, a community pantry was also put up in the cities of Silay and Sipalay.
The community pantry in Silay is located on Gaston Boulevard Street at Barangay Mambulac.
It was initiated by a team of volunteers from the Sugar Regulatory Administration led by Loui Peter Gamboa, Silay City Volunteers, Sulong Silaynon members namely Queny Rose Zaragoza, Lynlyn Cristales, and 6116 Negros Spotted, among others.
The community pantry in Sipalay City offers agricultural crops like bananas and sweet potatoes.
The community pantry was inspired by the Maginhawa Community Pantry in Quezon City.
