Parañaque City to run against hunger in TAKBOLAYAN2011 on Sept. 10

The City Government of Parañaque is pleased to host the “1st TAKBOlayan 2011, Run Against Hunger”Fun Run.

This special event for children and adults supports the implementation of the city’s urban vegetable gardening project with Save the Children, Kraft Foods and the Department of Education.

The Fun Run will take place within the city proper with the starting line set at the Parañaque City Hall on September 10.  Race starts at 5.30 a.m.
 
Since January 2010, Project FRESH (Future Resilience and Stronger Households in the Philippines) has taught mothers and children urban vegetable gardening as an effective way to fight hunger and malnutrition.

According to Program Manager Norma Chan-Pongan, “In the Philippines, 1 in 3 children under 5 years old and 1 in 5 school children are underweight. As a response, we teach families to use their own backyards to plant vegetable and fruits. We also make menus to help overcome children’s dislike for vegetable dishes. Now, all they need to do is to go to their garden to access healthy and nutritious food.”
 
Mayor Florencio Bernabe, Jr. is pleased with the project’s favorable impact in Parañaque.

“After twelve months into the program, we monitored that hunger incidence among families practicing urban vegetable gardening went down from 29 percent to 20 percent.”

Families are also trained on nutrition, recycling, composting, and livelihood opportunities through their gardens. Proceeds from the Fun Run will be used to train more families from all 16 barangays of the city.

Project FRESH is also implemented in Antique and Lake Sebu, South Cotabato.
 
This event also supports the “GulayanSaPaaralan” program of the Department of Education. At the end of the run, seeds and soil will be available for those who want to help the project.

Registration is ongoing.

Fees are P100 for government and non-government organization employees; and P300 for 3K and P600 for 6K for private groups and corporations.

You can also help by sponsoring a student-runner who is part of the families in the project.

Early registration is encouraged.

Please contact Elizabeth Diokno of the Parañaque City Health Office at 826 8195 or 0922 851 6681 for more details.