Today's post is by Aberystwyth Lions Club President and Charter President of the Laoac United Lions Club Benjamin Manluctao, who helped organize a Centennial Service Challenge project aimed toward combating hunger and engaging youth. These children are just some of the 100 million people already benefiting from Lions' Centennial projects around the world.
Aberystwyth Lions of 105W and the Laoac United Lions in Northern Philippines have shown their commitment to the Lions motto: We Serve. The Project: A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body is a month long feeding program to combat hunger. It is also aimed at Engaging the Youth for leadership. Good nutrition, a healthy mind and a healthy body are crucial to the improvement of academic performance of school children, who one day will lead their communities. This project is dedicated to all pupils in the world whose future is our concern.
The program is a result from a conducted Community Needs Assessment, which guided us to carry out this particular service project intended for the most vulnerable and least fortunate members of the community chosen by the teachers and village leaders.
The program is a sound investment in the education of the young. There is a connection of good nutrition to improved daily school attendance -- when children eat healthy, there is much better concentration in class, resulting in better class participation. It certainly is also a factor in reducing dropouts in the middle of the school year.
The main beneficiaries of the school feeding program are the undernourished school children, especially the children in the elementary grades as they are inclined to catch cold, diseases or infections. At the start of the program, all the participants were taken a base weight and height as a basis. Attendance and participation are also monitored. The acquisition of the basics of Literacy and Numeracy is closely watched by the teachers, with whom the children spend a lot of time during the day. Every day, meals served varies -- hot dishes are healthy, delicious and definitely nutritious. As one of the parents commented, "The food served is loaded."
I believe the youth of today will someday lead their communities and the world. What kind of leaders they be will depend to a large extent on how we, their elders, prepare and educate them today. These children of today are the future!
