Community Movement
Bio-region Cooperation for basic needs
2.0 COMMUNITY PANTRY PH
It started with a bamboo cart.
In April 14, 2021, a young woman named Patreng Non took out a cart with 800 Pesos worth of groceries and vegetables by a tree in Maginhawa Street in Quezon City, Philippines with 2 cardboard signs that read :
“Maginhawa Community Pantry”
“Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan*”
(*Give what you can, take what you need”)
She took a photo, went home and posted it on social media to make her community aware that it is there if they need it.
The post went viral overnight.
It marked the start of a movement.
Shortly thereafter, donations arrived, people lined up, the media covered the event and several people formed their own community pantries.
CPPH
By April 17, 2021 just 3 days after she took out her cart, there were 28 community pantries and the Community Pantry PH (CPPH) Facebook group was formed.
If Patreng sparked the inspiration, her sister, Jenny (based in the US) managed growth and myself (based in Europe) was assigned to work on its long term sustainability and wider adaptation.
Barey a month after, there were more than 1,300 member community pantries of CPPH.
Each member CP is set up by a group of people within a community with an objective of mutual help and empowerment as their guiding principle.
CPPH Objectives
To inspire, grow and sustain community pantries #CommunityPantriesPH
Inspire
STORIES Sharing of stories learned from members of communities
EDUCATION Education by infograms, webinars from different contributors on all aspects of community pantry operations and value forming from talks and community anecdotes
RESOURCE SHARING. Database of vetted source materials, references - as to suppliers, lawyers, …
ART. Art, music, literature freely shared with the community
Grow
EXPANSION OF REACH
EXPANSION OF IDEA
Kitchen
Library
Students
Kids toys, children's books, notebooks
Pharmacy
Pawtry - food for animal strays
MORE EFFICIENT COORDINATION
Direct trade with farmers and fishermen
Exploring better ways of working and coordination on the vertical, horizontal and with external service groups.
RECONNECT WITH OUR ROOTS
We act as guardians, not owner of the land. Enriching, not exploting it.
HARMONIZED CIRCULAR TRADE
Direct connection of farmers, fishermen, artisans, logistics to the community without middle man exploitation
DEBUGGING CURRENCY
Aligning currency with real community resources
Sustain
Venue for Value Formation
CPs provide not only a venue for food exchange but as well value formation towards equality, commUNITY, fairness and empowerment.
From the community,
for the community.
No Ego. No individual ownership. No self advertising. No politicking, no political color, banner or personality.
CommUNITY
and Delaying Judgement.
No dividing beliefs or labels. Everyone is treated equally whatever gender, age, socio economic status.
We learn more about the other and deepen understanding of cause and effect and have better ideas on how to solve a problem from the root.
It is a bountiful mindset of paying it forward, the opposite of greed.
We just start with what we can contribute however small. The important thing is to start. We think of the person behind us and only get what we need.
Give what you can,
take what you need.
How CPPH Organized
Each community pantry ideally serves 150 recipients though it is quite common to have 200-300 people who line up each day.
When a community pantry reaches 300 recipients, they are encouraged to break into 2 or more pantries. If it serves 750 or more, they are encouraged to convert into a community distribution hub (CDH) aka mother pantry to neighboring smaller pantries.
This move ensures the non-congestion of people for social distancing, eases their recipients from too long lines under the searing heat of the sun and to ensure that the community is a size small enough to extend personal regard to each member.
CPs have autonomy in seeking donations, setting working hours, deciding distribution practices which are apt to their capability and area of activity.
CPPH provides them with a list of suppliers and a venue to connect them to other CPs.
Community Pantry
Community Distribution Hub
There were 15 CDH hubs in Quezon City (CPPH, Maginhawa and Matiyaga), Caloocan, Manila, Pasig, Marikina, Bulacan, Cavite(4) and Laguna(3) serving more than 400 CPs. Maginhawa CP, now a hub, serves 22 CPs in the area. Claret, the biggest hub, located in Quezon City serves 200 CPs in the NCR.
We are facilitating the creation of hubs in Rizal, Northern Bulacan, Valenzuela and other places. Refer to live map for the CP and CDH locations.
The hubs, have a big area with a number of volunteers and coordinators that act as follow:
Conduct donation drives (in cash or kind) in different channels
Procure fresh produce direct from farmers and farmers cooperatives (at a fair price to the farmer)
Organize delivery from supplier to hub, from hub to pantry
Repack and divide the produce into 150 recipient pack/pantry
Prepare transparency report to the public
Network with their satellite PCs and other CPPH members for exchange of best practices
Vetting of the PCs that they serve
The hubs use its central purchasing power to patronize farmers and fishermen and ensure they get a fair price for their harvests and as well help them in their dire situation of being negotiated to bankruptcy through unfair market practices.
It also has a policy of sending goods not cash to its member pantries to optimize the funds, safeguarding against fund misuse by having auditors and transparency reports for check and balance.
How CPPH Moderate
Uniting individuals within a community, and communities with each other is a balancing act. Through objective observation and continuous learning, we establish guidelines that work best in fostering united interaction without compromising individual liberties.
Freedom of Self Expression X Community Anonymity
Each community’s situation is different. As such, CPs are given autonomy to learn, problem solve and try ways of working for their community.
CPPH serves as a platform to share their experiences and learnings so that others may take inspiration or improve on and exchange ideas with.
Transparency X Privacy
CPs operations are public knowledge. CDH and independent individuals vet each CP within its cluster.
CPs are taught and obliged to provide regular transparency reports. Though sources of donations are not named in social media, they are accounted for in transparency reports made available publicly.
However, we uphold the individuals’ right to privacy and do not give any personal information as much as possible.
There is good and bad in every person. Good ideas come from all directions, the poor, the young, the illiterate. Instead of labels of good and bad, we continuously learn cause and effect and improve our ways of working.
Delay Judgement X Learning Cause & Effect
What individuals share in their own social media is none of our business. However, we moderate what is shared in the community pantry pages, excluding those that self promote or that mentions names of donors, founders, political parties, companies and institutions.
Autonomy X Exchange
Decentralization X Cooperation
We are community first, not just aid providers. We develop strong community relationships.
This is why when a community pantry grows too big, we encourage breaking it down to serve the people better and know each other better. Social solidarity in the time of physical distancing.
