Kalayaan Outreach Benefits Malasag Kids

News article published in the Gold Star Daily:
http://www.goldstardailynews.com/life-style/5950-rc-kalayaan-outreach-benefits-malasag-kids.html
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THE Rotary Club of Kalayaan Cagayan de Oro has been conducting a weekly feeding program at Malasag Elementary School, Cugman, Cagayan de Oro since 2004.It was initially intended for theSchool's 38 malnourished children. It was only later when the health of the malnourished students had improved that the parents of the other students requested to have their children included as beneficiaries, thus, expanding the feeding to all of theSchool's students.

Ongoing for seven years now, the weekly feeding program presently supports a total of 264 students from pre-School to Grade 6.

When the program began in 2004, the School ranked No. 75 in the National/Division Admission Test. Four years later, it ranked No. 7, and its standing has continued to progress since then. Its NAT score went from 49 percent four years ago to 72 percent last year.

With the generous assistance of RC Tamar Sunrise of Australia, the program's success has inspired RC Kalayaan to focus on the School as the beneficiary for its many other annual projects since 2004 like the free medical and dental clinic, eye examination, free haircuts, parenting seminars, gift giving, donations of computers, books and School supplies. Even the club's annual Christmas party has been held at the School for many years now.

For Rotary Year 2011-2012, at least two projects had been conducted there: the agri-tech seminar with RC Kalayaan Rotary Ann Gakky Mirabueno as speaker last August 13 and the proper nutrition and hygiene seminar with Juvy Anne Pimentel as speaker on August 20.

Today, the club is donating door grills for the School's television room. And there are other projects already planned for the rest of this Rotary year such as the parenting seminar on November 5, and the operation tuli in December 2011.

For many years, past president Virginia Legaspi successfully chaired the feeding program and it was during her chairmanship that it evolved to a partnership with RC Tamar Sunrise. She was also the one who encouraged the students' parents to plant vegetables that would be used as ingredients for the feeding and was instrumental in implementing an effective system that would involve the parents in preparing the food for the weekly feeding project.

The School's vegetable garden had come and gone, perhaps dependent on the seasons, but now it's back again and will be included in the vegetable-growing competition among Cagayan de Oro's public Schools.
Presently chaired by Rotarian Lordly Wagas, the chief dietician of the Capitol University Medical City (CUMC) and food consultant of CUMC's Corner Cuisine, and with the leadership of President Lennie Medalla, RC Kalayaan Rotarians now take turns in overseeing the feeding every Friday.

RC Tamar Sunrise's support has definitely ensured the continuity of the program which they will register as an international project under the Rotary Australia World Community Service Ltd.