FREE FOOD The expression “no such thing as a free lunch” does not apply to these people who get a free meal courtesy of a lawyer and his friends. (Photo courtesy of JAM MARFIL)
MANILA, Philippines — With his house located not too far away from a poor community in Sampaloc, Manila, Jude “Jam” Marfil was used to neighbors asking for assistance. But when the whole of Luzon was placed under enhanced community quarantine, the calls for help became more frequent.
Then Marfil, a 34-year-old lawyer, learned about a 56-year-old Quezon City resident who killed himself after suspecting he had the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The man left the few pesos he had, about P30, to a certain Lisa.
“That really broke my heart,” Marfil said.
But it also propelled him into action.
“I talked to some friends. I told them I was planning to distribute food to those in need,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
In the last week of March, he and his friends raised enough money to feed 100 people, including Marfil’s out-of-work tricycle driver-neighbors and homeless families. A stall selling rice toppings that had shut down due to the lockdown was tapped to prepare the meals priced at P50 each.
From Marfil’s neighborhood, the group widened their area of distribution, including the homeless on España Boulevard and Rizal Avenue.
Unruly crowd
At first, despite their efforts to maintain physical distancing and order in the distribution, Marfil and his friends were mobbed by hungry people, some of whom took as many food packs as they could carry before running off.
“People were really starving,” he noted.
But he was heartened by those whose faces would light up upon receiving the food, prompting him to call the packed meals “Happy Lunch.”
Since then, their system of distribution has gotten better, thanks to reminders posted on their vehicle. Now, whenever Marfil’s group goes around the Tayuman, Tondo and Sampaloc area, the recipients line up in an orderly fashion while maintaining their distance from each other.
They included a scavenger who said that before the lockdown, he was earning enough to buy food. There was also a family in front of the Department of Health office in Tayuman which was trying to earn money by selling anything they could find on the streets like a pair of old shoes.
A man, who lived in a pushcart with his wife and two kids, looked weary as he received his first Happy Lunch, Marfil said.
During the first few days of the Happy Lunch project, Marfil had to pay for the meals himself while waiting for the pledges and donations of friends to come in.
“I received many pledges so I paid for most of the meals myself. But we’re doing this for the homeless and when I see their happy faces, even if I have to shell out money, I am at ease because I can provide something for their empty stomach. And I see the effect of how one meal can bring them so much joy,” he said.
Determined to continue the project until the end of the extended community quarantine on April 30, Marfil has appealed for financial support on social media. The initial response has been heartening: a food company provided ingredients while two celebrities donated enough money to feed 150 people until Easter Sunday.
“We’ll see to it that until the end, we will provide for the hungry,” he said.
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Those who want to donate may deposit any amount into any of Jude Marfil’s bank accounts: BPI (4409 1537 05), BDO (0067 5022 5372) and RCBC (9024 1270 31). Marfil is also asking netizens to let him know through his Facebook account (Jam Marfil) should they know of families in Tondo and Sampaloc in dire need of help.
/atm