A kind teacher creates a classroom pantry to feed hungry students from his own salary. His move went viral and sparked a wave in the community, leading to the opening of a school pantry for other less fortunate kids in the school. Wow.
Kind Teacher Opens Classroom Pantry
Life isn’t fair for everyone. There are so many people out there who don’t even have food to feed themselves and their families, yet they continue on finding ways to make their lives better by still sending their kids to school.
This results in hungry kids going to school, but that’s something that many of these parents can’t do anything about.
Photo credit: PIA Region 2
That’s the realization of Rafael Gutierrez, a 23-year-old Grade 3 teacher in Diodol Elementary School in Aglipay, Quirino, in the Philippines.
Every morning, this teacher would ask his students whether they’d already eaten and what food they had for breakfast. He was surprised to learn that many of the kids don’t eat breakfast – and don’t have anything for their snacks as well!
With his heart breaking for these young learners, Sir Rafael decided to use his own salary to buy them some food. He started the classroom pantry where his students could get any food they want for free.
There’s no judgment in Sir Rafael’s room – the hungry kids can get the food. No questions asked.
The kids don’t even have to show proof that they hadn’t eaten. It’s for anyone who’s hungry.
The teacher’s kind gesture reverberated in the community. Soon, his class received plenty of donations from local businesses and netizens.
Other stakeholders also helped, acknowledging that there are also students from other grade levels who have the same fate as Sir Rafael’s class.
Truly, it’s wonderful that the community came together to help these kids.
Mabuhay po kayo, Sir Rafael!
What’s a Community Pantry?
A community pantry is a food bank established in public places where people can donate or get necessities. These food banks are designed to be open to anyone who needs these items.
They were popular during the pandemic.