There exists a simple recipe to help end hunger. A cup of dreams, a pint of love, a gallon of fellowship, and an ounce of empathy, all braised in a saucepan of solidarity. Ironically, for such a simple recipe, it seems that hunger is still rather prevalent in our own backyard.

 Around three in ten children in our country are stunted. Two out of ten are underweight, seven in a hundred are wasted and four percent are overweight. These are but the simplest of statistics but it already reflects the need for action to help the children in this nation.

Noble Trends Unbound Foundation, allied with Gawad Kalinga, has committed itself to to take part in the national mission of ending hunger by 2018 and has established a hunger mitigation hub here in the City of Baguio last 2016. The kitchen, located at Happy Hollow Elementary School, served around 220 kids throughout the previous academic year. Once a satellite of GK’s Kusina ng Kalinga, the kitchen has now evolved into Baguio’s own Hope Kitchen, inspired by the values of KnK but with a tailored program suited to the needs of the children of our highland metropole.

The NTU Foundation Hope Kitchen is here, first and foremost, to alleviate poverty and we can only do that by providing healthy, nutritious and delicious full meals for the children. By providing them with these sustaining packages, we can inspire them not only to excel in their day-to-day lives at school but also instill in them a sense of camaraderie to reach a noble goal for our society, something that they can carry as they face their future. In that way, we can course a cycle of unity and goodwill throughout generations.

In the Hope Kitchen, our people start working before the sunrise to prepare more than 200 meals daily for all the children of Happy Hollow Public School. Composed of one regular volunteer in the kitchen manager, NTU Foundation and its partners rotate its corporate social responsibility (CSR) volunteers to partake in food preparation, cooking, packing, food distribution and dish washing. Each meal is consisted of a cup of rice and the assigned daily viand which was mostly meat, vegetables and our miracle ingredient, moringga, more popularly known as “malunggay”.

But the kitchen is not there for a simple feeding program. In order to inspire hope, NTU Foundation conducts campaigns well beyond the scope of culinary philanthopy. As what the foundation does with all its social responsibility projects, its people prioritize identifying the need of an area and operate based on the neccessities of the locality. We believe that through the culture of presence, we are able to work, not for, but with the community.

In the Hope Kitchen, we conduct values formation programs for the kids and parents such as the reinforcement of patriotism and the sense of “bayanihan”. The concept of strengthening the nationalism of every FIlipino is in line with our principles of building a national identity that goes against the popular but misguided idea that things foreign in nature are superior to what our country produces, be it human or inanimate product. We, the Filipino, are a globally competitve people and everyone of us should be knowledgeable of this.

We also conduct English-proficency trainings as a supplement to the aforementioned program. Although we believe that the love for Filipino culture (including our language) is essential, we are open-minded and also believe that adaptability to the global world through the universal language of English is just as important. From a positive state-dutiful mindset to improved language skills, we can help build character with the people we touch.

The NTU Foundation is also able to exercise social impact through the linkage of local enterprises with potential partners. This includes hooking up local small-scale farmers with urban industrialists.

The kitchen of ambition, wishes and hope will once again open on the 28^th of June as the new academic year begins.