DAILY FEEDING PROGRAM

GARBAGE SUSTENANCE

Manila Slums

The Gerard Chapman kitchen is located in one of the poorest areas of Manila. The children in this area typically start their day before sunrise digging through garbage to salvage what they can. The most common food source in the area is scraps of skin or meat found still clinging to the bones of Kentucky Fried Chicken or other restaurants - meals that have been enjoyed by people and then thrown away. Children gather these scraps and the women press them together and re-fry them. It sounds disgusting, but this is sustenance for thousands of kids. As a result, the children are malnourished, underdeveloped, and suffering many illnesses.

Currently Cathedral of Praise is able to feed 2000 children daily in 2 adjacent areas that they have affectionately called "Happy Land" and "Aroma". Though it sounds like a lot of children are receiving help, they would love to increase the number since they are only reaching a fraction of the children in the huge slum.

MANNA PACKS

The Gerard Chapman kitchen receives donations of "manna packs" which are highly nutritious, rice based meals which cook up into a kind of yucky, not-so-pleasant-to-smell, thick soup. Because of the donations from Sunday Line, these highly nutritious meals are made even better by adding things the children like such as cinnamon or pineapple - things that smell and taste yummy!

Recently the top doctor of the Philippine World Health Organization (WHO) visited the Gerard Chapman Kitchen and took a look at the operations. He was so thankful that the children receive food on a daily basis and not just once in a while. He was also very impressed with the nutritional content of the food being given.

FOREVER DIFFERENCES

Within the feeding area, hot meals have also been taken to the elementary schools. After a number of months, the teachers began to comment on the improvement in their students. For example, a little girl named Nica Mae was listless, unresponsive, and failing all subjects. She seemed unable to focus her mind. She was not able to read. The teacher feared she would fail all subjects. Nica Mae became one of the recipients of the daily feeding. At the end of the school year, Nica Mae was strong in her body and mind, had begun to read well, was bright and had passed ALL of her subjects. God had used the miracle of proper nutrition in Nica Mae's little body to do His work! The minerals and vitamins are so packed into that one meal that a true difference is seen!

Recently, a couple was so touched by the food their children were receiving that they responded and gave their lives to the Lord. They began reading the Philippine Bible they were given and they made a decision to get married. The father was delivered from drug dependency and has begun to work part-time. The family now has an entirely new outlook on life - and all because people cared enough that they helped support the feeding of hungry children.