Filipinos Launch Community Pantries Initiative To Help Each Other During Pandemic

• A community pantry started by Maginhawa, Quezon City resident Ana Patricia Non recently went viral online.
• The project has inspired Filipinos to donate in an aim to help out the hungry amid the Covid-19 lockdowns.
• Several communities have likewise followed Maginhawa’s good example to provide for the needy.

As the National Capital Region continues to be the Covid-19 hotspot of the Philippines, residents have started an initiative to help each other out amid the implementation of lockdowns.

Case in point, photos recently went viral on social meda, showing community pantry initiatives launched by locals so they can promote the concept of sharing and taking depending on people’s needs.

Canned goods, eggs, rice, vegetables, and many more – all available for free!

According to a report, the first of these community pantries was spotted on Maginhawa, Quezon City.

Photos circulating on social media showed community pantries popping up in different areas, just days after the first pantry along Maginhawa Street in Quezon City went viral on social media after business owner Ana Patricia Non set up a bamboo cart beside a tree.

Eventually, farmers from Paniqui, Tarlac went ahead and donated sacks of sweet potatoes.

“Give what you can, take only what you need,” read the sign installed by Non.

Although the public pantry was her idea, Non refuses to take credit for it, emphasizing that it’s a community effort after all.

Now community pantries inspired by the Maginhawa initiative have also popped up in several areas across Quezon City and beyond.

“We set up a table with free goods beside the Mang Tootz Food House on P, Noval in Sampaloc, Manila,” shared netizen Toots Vergara.

Vergara admitted, “We were initially skeptical that people would take advantage of the contents of the pantry but it turns out people would only get what they need.”

Watch this video report to learn more: