World Food Programme (WFP) and Julie's Bakeshop to Fight Hunger in the Philippines

Joint Press Release:

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Philippine's largest bakery chain, Julie's Bakeshop, have entered into an innovative partnership to fight hunger in the Philippines.

Julie's Bakeshop is launching a new product called Julie's Bayan Sliced Bread, and will donate two pesos to WFP for every loaf of Julie's Bayan Sliced Bread sold.



While nationwide in scope, proceeds from the initiative will exclusively benefit school children in conflict-affected areas of Central Mindanao through WFP's Emergency School Feeding (ESF) programme, which provides on-site nutritious meals in targeted elementary schools in Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and Maguindanao. WFP implements its school feeding programmes in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Education as well as the non-government organization Community Family Services International.

The ESF programme helps to bring children back to school after a protracted period of  displacement in 2008/2009. With the participation of Parent=Teacher Associations, it promotes a sense of normalcy in the lives of the families of the school children and enhances their participation in class.

"Giving back to society is part of our corporate ethic at Julie's Bakeshop, and this is shown by our latest partnership with the Worl Food Programme," said Joseph R. Gandionco, president and CEO of Julie's Franchise Corporation. "More than just bringing bread to the Filipino people, we want to enhance Filipino lives. We consider it a true measure of success by placing a healthy relationship with our customers alongside business excellence."

Julie's Bayan Bread is packaged with a WFP logo, raising awareness of WFP's central role in the fight against hunger and providing customers with an easy way to get involved.

"WFP is extremely grateful for this initiative from Julie's bakeshop which will significantly boost our efforts to provide nutritious school meals to vulnerable children in Central Mindanao," said WFP Philippines Country Director Stephen Anderson. "This programme helps keep children in school and gives them a fighting chance for education, which is key to overcoming poverty and hunger."

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, there are around 12 million  undernourished people nationwide. Julie's Bakeshop supports efforts to reduce their number in Mindanao, where WFP is currently assisting around 80,000 school children. "We hope this partnership can pave the way for further opportunities for the private sector and WFP Philippines to fight hunger in the country," said Gandionco.


* Julie's Bakeshop
Julie's bakeshop is the country's largest bakeshop chain. Founded by Julia Gandionco in 1981, Julie's Bakeshop today has more than 500 bakeshops. The opening of the first full franchise Julie's Bakeshop on June 24,1998, in Camiguin Island was a trend-setting event - one of the keys to Julie's Bakeshop's exceptional boom that solidified it's nationwide market reach and leadership position in the bakeshop industry. Now regarded as among the hottest franchise businesses for entrepreneurs, Julie's bakeshop provides full management and marketing support to franchisees through its corporate organization, Julie's Franchise Corporation (JFC). Julie's Bakeshop is commited to serve quality hot breads to Filipinos.

* World Food Programme (WFP)
WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. each year, on average, WFP feeds more than 90 million people in more than 70 countries, WFP now provides RSS feeds to help journalists keep up with the latest press releases, videos and photos as they are published on WFP.org .