IN A bid to promote the bayanihan culture amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a community pantry was opened on Monday, April 19, 2021, by a youth group along MacArthur Highway in Barangay Sulipan, Apalit.

The initiative of the Anak Kapampangan, a group of working students from Pampanga, was inspired from the community pantry that was first set-up in Maginhawa, Quezon City.

It aims to feed the hungry by providing in-kind assistance to needy persons while also encouraging others who have means to donate anything they can.

"My friends and I pooled our extra money to buy goods that we can share to the needy. I also posted the idea on Facebook, which encouraged more friends to join the advocacy and share their blessings to others," said Anak Kapampangan president and Apalit Community Pantry prime mover Jed Yutuc.

As of Monday morning, April 19, several goods such as vegetable, eggs, biscuits, canned goods, milks and noodles are available for free at the community pantry.

Yutuc is hopeful that the pantry will be sustained through the bayanihan of the people, both givers and takers.

"As said by the pantry's motto, we hope people with financial mean can donate what they can while our beneficiaries only get what they need. We will never know what joy we can give to others with the simple things we donate," he said.