Ende--RUN to the Rescue!

What started out with only 3 bags of groceries and 5 kilos of rice brought by 2 students has ballooned to over 21,000 packs of hot meals and 6,000 sandwiches, delivered from the kitchens of Enderun Colleges, to many points in Antipolo, Pasig, Rizal, Taguig and other areas that have been affected by the wrath of typhoon Ondoy.

It’s amazing how a tiny spark can lead to many lighted candles.

According to Enderun faculty, Bel Castro, it was just a one time big time idea that grew.  “One phone call, one text message, one Facebook post is how we were able to scale the relief efforts.” This, together with good-hearted people who just kept knocking on their kitchen doors without even wanting to be named, plus the enthusiasm and passion of the students behind the stove, Bel says, was a winning combination.

The campus is now a heartening and lively image of kids on relief mode. Many of the students who are in the middle of suspended classes who could easily while away time by just hanging out in coffee shops, searching the net, or keeping warm at home with their respective families, have chosen to act and make a difference.

They’ve rolled up their sleeves, donned their chef’s gears and enrolled themselves to help without thought of reward, additional credits from their respective professors or being exempted from laboratory hours. Just the thought of lending a hand and helping those who are not as fortunate was enough to keep the (kitchen) fire burning.

“I am so proud of our students. The idea of a relief center for the flood victims was initiated by them and the faculty and staff merely gave their support,” says Tricia Tensuan, Enderun’s director for marketing.  “It is overwhelming how friends of the school community also helped out – donations from individuals, corporations and associations just poured in after receiving messages through SMS, social networking sites and word of mouth,” she added.

Truly the Pinoy youth of today can rise to his fullest and finest self during trying times.

Tensuan also recalls coming in last Tuesday morning (the second day of relief operations) and the students said they needed more meat products as viand for the hot meals they were cooking. Before lunchtime, there were more than enough canned goods from donors to produce thousands of meals.  “I am most proud of our Enderun students because of their will to help their countrymen in need, and they acted on it quickly.”

The school specifically asked for canned goods as donations and those that are processed for the reason that these kinds of food do not spoil easily.  Another kitchen guideline they strictly followed is not to use dairy products or mayonnaise in any of the meals so that the shelf life is longer, considering there will be time consumed to transport them.

Aside from students, the school likewise credits kindhearted donors who responded to the call really fast – individuals, families, groups, organizations, industry partners and many others who just wanted to help. “If not for them, our students won’t really have anything to chop, mix, cook and concoct so we truly owe it to them and they know who they are,” Castro shared in high spirits.

The Enderun community is also very thankful to be equipped with the proper commercial kitchen facilities that can help produce quality and quantity meals.

“Even the most well intentioned human being won’t be able to come up with such big volume and we are indebted to the school facilities and students whose adrenalins are fired up in our kitchens with enthusiasm, passion for cooking, and the training that they’ve learned and applied so far,” she added. 

Say for instance, the rice cooker in one of Endrun’s kitchens can produce up to 1000 servings in one cooking and as of last night, if you do the math, about 60 students were producing as much as 1 meal per 10 seconds. 

Organizations such as Gawad Kalinga, The Philippine Red Cross, the Philippine Army, government agencies, NGOs and many others have gone to the Enderun to pick up hot cooked meals for relief operations and distribution to over 1,500 families and still counting!

And if there’s one person who is really, really proud of what these kids have accomplished in such trying times, that can’t be anyone else but Dean Lorraine Villanueva, who was called by The Mighty Executive Chef to that big buffet in the sky, now smiling down from the heavens.