Aspiring pastry chef Mary Jane Balanon was only 15 years old when she gave birth to her firstborn. At a young age, she dropped out of school, gave up on her dreams, and took the first job available to help her husband provide for their family.
Prior to the pandemic, Balanon was a contractual sales lady at a department store in Sampaloc, Manila. But when the pandemic hit the Philippines, she and her husband became casualties of a massive retrenchment caused by an economic slump that shook the Philippines to its core.
For breadwinners like Balanon, giving up was not an option. Instead of drowning in debt, she upskilled herself via Virlanie Foundation’s pastry-making program, where she found her “calling.”
“Talagang nagtiyaga akong matutong gumawa ng pastries,” Balanon said. “Nai-inspire din po ako sa mga kasama ko. Mayroon pong biyuda, may PWD, may single moms.”
Jeanneth Odon, a mother of three, had just lost her husband, a construction worker, last January. “Na-heart attack po. Pag-uwi ng bahay, bigla na lang nahilo, natumba, at nabagok ang ulo,” she recalled. Although tragic, Odon said her husband’s death taught her how to stand on her own feet.
Balanon and Odon are just two of the Virlanie-trained bakers who are supplying banana breads for #BrigadangAyalaKaakay.
#BrigadangAyalaKaakay is a 12-week food distribution program that aims to reach 10,000 families or about 500,000 individuals across Metro Manila.nThe food distribution program is scheduled weekly from November 2021 to February 2022.
According to Virlanie’s Community Programs Manager Emma Solasco, #BrigadangAyalaKaakay had an immediate effect to the lives of their beneficiaries. Most of them were already drowning in debt and had sold their home appliances just to survive the pandemic.
“I remember noong sinabi kong ang Ayala kukuha ng bread sa amin, talagang nagsigawan sila: ‘Yes! Pangarap lang naming itong ganito kalaking orders. Tinupad ng Ayala ang pangarap ng Virlanie at ng ating beneficiaries,” Solasco shared.
“They are proof of how hardworking and determined our fellow Filipinos are to uplift themselves. It’s easy to lose hope when one gets retrenched or loses a loved one during the pandemic. Mary Jane and Jeanneth showed how we can all bounce back through persistent upskilling, diskarte, and malasakit. All we really need is a Kaakay, somebody to offer a hand and open opportunities,” Art Tan, Group President & CEO of AC Industrials said.
