(In photo): RRIF representatives lead by their Cebu Corporate Secretary Judith Pua (2nd from left) during their courtesy call to RNPC Dr. Mission (sitting down) together with ND II James Perez (far right)
Cebu City - Rise and Rebuild International Foundation (RRIF), a non-profit organization committed to aiding the poor and the malnourished in the Philippine Islands joins Central Visayas’ efforts to battle malnutrition in this part of the country. The commitment was made by the Foundation representatives when they made a courtesy call to RNPC Dr. Parolita A. Mission on 05 April 2022.
The team who paid a visit to NNC 7 office was composed of Ms. Judith Pua (RRIF Cebu Corporate Secretary), Mr. Ramir de Dios (RRIF Cebu Garden Manager), and Mr. Rey Caparoso (RRIF Nutrition Officer). The group came all the way from their farmland in Sogod, Cebu to discuss their advocacy, promotion, sharing of ideas, and future partnerships.
RRIF was founded by Mr. Ray Goodson, the current CEO and President. Their focus is on the nutrition of the malnourished children from birth through secondary school. They also drill potable water wells, build nutrition centers from the bricks made at their brick making facilities, and operate garden centers. Their farmlands provide free vegetables to the nutrition centers as well as needed employment for people from local communities.
Current projects of the Foundation include gardens and farming, nutrition centers, block factories, building of communal bathrooms/comfort rooms, provision of portable clean water, employment, prenatal support, and neighborhood feeding centers.
Their 25-acre farm located in Barangay Ampongol, Sogod, Cebu supplies vegetables to their school nutrition centers, neighborhood feeding centers and in the community. The farm produces local vegetables of string beans, baguio beans, mungbeans, soybeans, lima beans, cabbage, pechay, okra, ampalaya, eggplant, tomato, squash, kangkong, sweet potato, and corn, and can produce six times more than that of a local Filipino garden which they harvest within 4-6 weeks after seeding.
The foundation’s nutrition centers provide one healthy meal per school child per day. These nutrition centers are in select elementary schools in the cities of Mandaue, Cebu and Danao. They also provide multiple micronutrient supplements (iron folic acid) to pregnant mothers who are at risk of malnutrition during pregnancy.
NNC 7 during their meeting with RRIF provided instructional learning materials (Pinggang Pinoy), gave out a ranking list of top stunted municipalities and cities in the province of Cebu so they can prioritize these municipalities and shared the guidelines in Dietary Supplementation Program as reference in their conduct of their feeding program. The foundation also became a member of the SUN (Scaling Up Nutrition) Civil Society Alliance in Central and was elected as member of the SUN-CSA core-group on 27 April 2022 during the blended 2nd SUN Network meeting held at Cebu Doctor’s University. ND II James Aaron S. Perez, RND
