Christmas donors told: Skip noodles, sardines

’Tis once again the season to be generous to the poor, but kind hearts must be more discerning in choosing gifts to give, a Church official says.

If giving food, donors could perhaps skip the usual noodles and sardines, which, according to Fr. Edu Gariguez, executive secretary of the social arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), are very poor in nutritional content.

“As much as possible, we try to avoid or limit giving noodles because [of] their nutritional content—they are high in sodium. Do you want those who’ll receive [them] to get sick?” Gariguez, head of the CBCP National Secretariat for Social Action (Nassa), said yesterday.

Quality first

Gariguez underscored the importance of making donors as well as those in charge of relief distribution realize that nutritional quality must come first before availability and affordability of the goods being donated.

“There are people who donate things just for the sake of donating,” Gariguez said.

“I’m not saying that they cannot donate these types of goods, especially during emergency situations … but if they are capable of giving [better] goods, then they should do so,” he added.

Spanish sardines

But if donors really preferred to give sardines, Gariguez said, they might want to consider giving Spanish sardines instead of ordinary sardines.

“[Spanish sardines] are healthier,” he said.

Gariguez also appealed to donors not to give things that may not be useful to the poor.

He said Nassa once received ballet shoes. What would, say, a fire victim do with ballet shoes?

Useful

“When we give, let us also think if [what we are giving away] will be useful to the person who will receive it,” Gariguez said. “Let us not just give away our stuff because we no longer need them.”

Nassa, responsible for receipt and distribution of donations, screens goods that it receives, Gariguez said.

“For donated canned goods, we check their expiry dates and if they are already expired, we place them in a stock room along with donated clothes that are no longer wearable,” he said.