Health 101 Restoreant in Baguio owned by Elmer Macalingay was turned into a community kitchen for nearly two months while Luzon was placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) to stop the spread of coronavirus disease.
For 51 days, Macalingay and his staff at the vegan restaurant volunteered to serve healthy meals to frontliners in the fight against COVID-19, themselves becoming frontliners as they braved the threat of the viral infection while they kept working.
Elmer Macalingay first announced the opening of the community kitchen on March 22 using his restaurants’ remaining stocks to prepare packed meals for frontliners in La Trinidad.
Macalingay, who owned the Health 101 Restoreant in Baguio City and Health 100 in La Trinidad, also rallied donors to provide vegetables and other food supplies for the Community Kitchen to turn into sumptuous and healthy dishes for donation to front line workers in the area.
The Community Kitchen has since signed off on May 15, 2020, following the shifting from ECQ to GCQ in Benguet.
The Health 101 Restoreant in Baguio City and Health 100 in La Trinidad have both since reopened to regular operations, providing vegan and health products in the Cordillera region.
Among their more popular offerings are:
- vegetarian meats
- organic vegetables
- teas
- baked products
Elmer Macalingay’s restaurants were assisted by the Department of Science and Technology-Cordillera Region (DOST- CAR)’s Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP) in 2014 in order to upgrade its equipment and increase productivity. The firm also improved in terms of administration, production and, production layout, materials management, market strategy, and finance strategy through the DOST’s MPEX program conducted in 2015.
This inspired the firm to further upgrade its production process and upgrade its equipment through the 2nd phase of SETUP assistance in 2019.
Elmer Macalingay’s promotion of a healthy lifestyle through his business ideas has been recognized by several government agencies. He has been awarded as the Benguet’s Best SETUP Adoptor in 2019 and continues to serve as a resource speaker in activities for MSMEs in and out of the region.
Another community kitchen that has been continuously serving disaster-stricken areas is the Art Relief Mobile Kitchen.
While under ECQ, Baguio residents also received vegetable seedlings and planting materials to encourage them to set up home-based urban gardens as a food source.
Another DOST SETUP grantee in Davao created immunity boosting drinks for frontliners.
SEND CHEERS in the comments below to Elmer Macalingay and Health 101 Restoreant in Baguio for providing healthy food for frontliners in the fight against the coronavirus disease.
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