LONG before the phenomenal community pantry came, there have been groups which have been silently working without much fanfare the way these sprawling kiosks offering free food and essentials have been getting from both the traditional and social media.
To set the record straight, I can name some groups doing random acts of kindness even before the pandemic scare set in.
Twenty minutes away east of Metro Manila is a lakeshore municipality where elders and the disabled get free medicines from the Binangonan Action Center which has been doing it with such passion that goes beyond the free medicines.
For one, Binangonan Action Center (BAC) is a non-government organization composed of various volunteer groups based in the lakeshore municipality in Rizal. The group has a fleet of volunteers coming from all walks of life and operates basically by way of “chipping out anything in excess of what they may want to share,” which may come in the form of cash, food and medicine.
What makes this group stand out is that they are aware of the risks of the coronavirus disease, especially for the senior citizens. As such, the group has formulated a mechanism seen to have been doing wonders and yielding results.
With the help of modern-day technology, local folks – particularly the elderlies and physically-impaired persons get to receive the medicines they need without spending a dime or leaving their houses.
Recognizing the reach of the Facebook social media platform, grannies and physically-challenged individuals are just a click away from getting what they wished for to keep them healthy and safe from the highly-infectious virus from Wuhan, China.
Since March last year, the BAC launched a project they call “eBotika,” where the elderlies and the disabled would just send a direct message on the BAC Facebook page for the medicines [and other essentials] they need and wait for their riders to deliver it right on their doorsteps, all free of charge — as simple as that.
Aside from meds, the group is active on social media, farming out apolitical materials deemed as informative. Yes, informative is the real essence of the word. Interruption of power or water supplies, latest health advisories, government-imposed guidelines conveyed on layman’s terms for easy comprehension, traffic situation, etcetera. It also helps link local folks to the right channel for their concerns and gives credit where or to whom it is due.
So where do they get all the supplies they are giving out? The group has partnered with local businessmen and somehow gets a slice of support from the local government unit which has tapped displaced members of the transport sector. The LGU pays for the services of these delivery riders.
BAC is just one of those groups silently helping those in need. There are actually a long list of groups and individuals who have been doing random acts of kindness.
There’s just one glitch, though. Some of these groups have expressed apprehension and fear of being red-tagged by trigger happy individuals in power.