Toledo City - To address the ever-growing concern of hunger and malnutrition in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Toledo City Nutrition Committee (CNC) spearheaded by its Chair Hon. Mayor Marjorie P. Perales came up with a solution to address the hunger of the city residents, especially young children coming from food insecure and nutritionally challenged barangays. The LGU has launched the NutriJoy on Wheels Feeding Program which makes use of a mobile kitchen to reach all thirty-eight (38) barangays of the city.

With an allocated budget of Php 250,000.00 and an additional Php 500,000.00 from the mayor’s special fund, NutriJoy on Wheels lives up to its name by bringing joy and ensuring that communities are well-fed, and malnutrition is prevented. The mobile kitchen delivers quality nutritious meals to Toledohanons through the efforts of professional cooks and aided by Barangay Nutrition Scholars.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, also the program gave nourishment to more than 20,000 children in the city. It has helped address the problem of acute malnutrition in the locality from 3.6% wasting prevalence pre-pandemic in 2019 to only 2.7% in 2022. Despite the relaxation of health protocols in recent months, the program is still found to be relevant because of the impending food crisis and brewing economic unrest. // NGS