foodpanda donates more than 1,000 meals for World Food Day

Online food and grocery delivery platform foodpanda Philippines donated over 1,000 meals to various communities as part of its World Food Day efforts, reinforcing its commitment to fighting hunger and reducing food waste through its sustainability program, Let’s Do Our Pau-rt (LDOP).

World Food Day, celebrated annually every October 16th, is a global initiative spearheaded by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, aimed at raising awareness and promoting action for those affected by hunger. In the Philippines, the situation is dire, with approximately 3.95 million Filipino families currently struggling with involuntary hunger, according to the 2024 Social Weather Survey (SWS).

In response to this growing issue, foodpanda Philippines organized various meal donation activities for this month’s celebration of World Food Day. “We want to create a bigger impact by working with our stakeholders to combat hunger and food waste in our country,” shared a foodpanda representative. “Our initiatives also encourage deeper involvement from our employees through these meal donation activities.”

foodpanda employees lead Share The Meal donations

The company encouraged its employees to donate meals for World Food Day through the ShareTheMeal (STM) feature in the foodpanda app. Launched in partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (UN-WFP), the donation option is available to all foodpanda app users at the checkout page, with proceeds benefiting local communities.

“World Food Day perfectly aligns with our Hero Month celebration, which fosters volunteerism and social advocacy among our employees throughout October. We saw this as an ideal opportunity to make meal donations a meaningful volunteer activity for our employees,” the representative shared.

For October alone, the initiative raised more than 300 meals from foodpanda Philippines employees who donated. “This is a chance for our employees to be part of a collective effort for positive change, leaving them with a sense of fulfillment and purpose.” 

Rescue Kitchen with SOS PH

Through its collaboration with Scholars of Sustenance Philippines (SOS PH), a global food rescue organization, foodpanda helps recover surplus food items and turns them into nutritious meals for redistribution to local communities.

For this year’s World Food Day celebration, foodpanda Philippines, with the support of its employee volunteers, cooked, prepared, and distributed 500 meals to beneficiaries in Marikina City.

The company also emphasized its dedication to sustainability and expressed its commitment to promoting a circular food economy, where surplus food is repurposed to reduce waste and fight hunger. “We always participate in the Rescue Kitchen activity whenever possible because it’s a win-win—helping reduce food waste while feeding those in need. Through these activities, we’re building a system where food never goes to waste, transforming surplus into nutritious meals for the community and creating a more sustainable future for everyone.”

Feeding program for GenSan students

The company has also expanded its meal donation initiatives with a month-long feeding program in General Santos City. In partnership with the office of City Councilor Jose Orlando “Odjok” Acharon, foodpanda pledged to provide meals to over 1,000 elementary students in the area.

The feeding program was launched last September at Ignacio D. Solis Sr. Elementary School. For the past weeks, around 200 to 400 children from the school, as well as New Guadalupe Elementary School, Shuttle Elementary School, and Sinawal Elementary School received meals, along with medical and hygiene support under the City Councilor’s Beat the Hunger Program.

“Every year, many Filipino families face hunger and food insecurity. We want to continue using our platform to bring people together in the fight against global hunger and food waste,” the company representative concluded.