At least 12 high-end restaurants in Manila have forged a partnership with Thrive Philippines, a non-government organization advocating an end to hunger, to finance a drive to feed school children in a poor community in Leyte and other areas in the country.

Janelle Carlos, Thrive Philippines operations manager, said these restaurants include Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza, Bamba Bistro, Cyma (four branches), Souv! by Cyma (three branches), One World Butchers, Cafe Fleur, and Pardon My French.

“Each restaurant has selected a specialty dish and will contribute 10 percent of all sales of that item for the month of May to Thrive as part of commemorating World Hunger Day on May 28. Proceeds will finance the feeding of Filipino schoolchildren,” said Carlos, a young entrepreneur in this city.

These special dishes include Tiramisu at Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza, Tindahan ni Maria Salad at Bamba Bistro, Roka Pasta at Cyma, Smoked Pork Belly at One World Butchers, Spiced Chicken a la Plancha at Cafe Fleur, and Butter-Lemon Barramundi at Pardon My French.

Carlos said in an interview Thursday that donations would finance the existing feeding program for more than 200 children in Dawahon Island in Bato, Leyte.

The other 200 recipients are students of City Gates Academy in Antipolo, Rizal; Coron, Palawan; and Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya.

City Gates School has been providing free quality education to the poor and disadvantaged but deserving children in the community for free.

Founded in 2012, Thrive’s mission is to deliver healthy food to hungry children in the poorest areas of the world and partners with schools to provide more than 12,000 meals to schoolchildren each week in Bangladesh and the Philippines to improve nutrition, boost school attendance, and increase readiness to learn.

“It is truly heartening to see many of the top restaurants in the city join together to raise awareness of hunger, and to help feed children in need,” Monica de Ocampo Casperino, president of Thrive Philippines, said in a statement.

“We have more than 5,000 children at 20 schools on our waitlist, and through efforts like this, we will be able to increase our reach.”

In Dawahon Island, Thrive’s feeding program began in 2022, focusing on 220 elementary students identified as malnourished.

Dawahon is an island community located at the Dawahon Reef near the tri-border of Cebu, Leyte, and Bohol.

This fishing community has the highest population among the 32 villages in Bato town.

In 2011, the Hunger Project created World Hunger Day, an initiative to highlight the plight of disadvantaged people around the world and take action to end world hunger.

World Hunger Day is observed every May 28 to raise awareness about the more than 820 million people living in chronic hunger and to encourage action to bring this to an end. (PNA)