Foundation fosters peace, unity through free beef

DESPITE the rain, city government employee Eduardo Lubang, 53, lined up patiently alongside hundreds of families in West Greenhills, San Juan City, where bags of beef were being distributed for free.

He smiled as he exchanged his coupons for four kilos of beef which he said were a huge blessing to his family of nine children.

“[This] is a great help for us. We can barely afford beef once a year,” he said.

In coordination with the San Juan City government, around 3,600 bags of beef were given to poor families on Saturday as part of a beef-sharing project by Filipino-Turkish educational group Integrative Center for Alternative Development (ICAD) Foundation.

The project sought to embody the values of the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice or Eid al-Adha, that honors Abraham’s willingness to submit to God’s command when he was asked to sacrifice his firstborn son.

The tradition calls for a symbolic animal sacrifice which is then divided into three portions—one each for family, friends and the marginalized.

Through sharing, the foundation hopes to foster peace, understanding and unity among people of different races and religions.

“This is one of those [rare] events where they see something contrary, where people of all religions come together for charitable work. We hope and we believe that this event will remove prejudice from the hearts of people,” said ICAD Foundation representative Bora Aslan.

San Juan City Mayor Guia Gomez, who led in the distribution of bags of beef, thanked the foundation for its generosity on behalf of the city’s marginalized families—among the main beneficiaries of the project since 2006.

Lolita Santiago, 44, said she was looking forward to bringing her share home to her eight children.

“I’m happy [organizations] like these share their blessings [with] poor families like us. It’s been a while since we tasted beef,” she told the Inquirer.

Raymond Quijano, 31, said the activity was an “opportunity” for other people to experience kindness from others.

“There’s no discrimination when it comes to helping other people, especially for the poor and the needy,” he added.

San Juan City is one of five cities nationwide which havebeen benefiting from the foundation’s beef-sharing program. The activity which started in 1997 aims to reach 10,000 families in Zamboanga, Davao, Baguio and Manila.

Established in 1996, the ICAD Foundation is known for promoting peace and understanding among people of diverse cultures through education.

It operates four international schools in the country: the two Fountain International Schools in San Juan and two Filipino-Turkish Tolerance Schools in Zamboanga City.