It was a warm summer day. While most people looked for other ways to spend their time at home, members of My Deen Food Catering endured the heat in the kitchen to diligently prepare hearty packed meals.

The packed meals were ordered by Save the Children Foundation and will be donated to frontliners in Marawi City and other areas of Lanao del Sur.

Abdul Mahayman Modaalay, chairperson of the catering service cooperative, did not hesitate in accommodating the bulk order. After all, he was already used to cooking and serving for those who are in need.  

Abdul’s passion for cooking started with his love for kapagana, a native Maranao’s practice of offering different food to the guests. In almost every occasion, he cooked a lot of food “to share happiness with everybody.” Abdul believed that food is what brings the family to gather together.

On normal occasions, he catered food for family occasions and did a few orders from his relatives and friends. When the Marawi siege happened, Abdul and his colleagues in the catering service decided to reach out and served a lot of internally displaced persons (IDPs). However, they humbly admitted to have only helped a limited number of IDPs because of the shortage of equipment.

Still, it did not stop them from their passion for cooking and in serving other people. The catering service improved when the cooperative received cooking and catering equipment from DTI’s Shared Service Facility (SSF) for the Bangon Marawi project.

“The SSF from DTI helps us make our business more efficient.” Abdul shared. “We can hold a large scale of people gathering with the help of the facilities shared to us from DTI.”

On March 21 and 23, My Deen Food Catering delivered 300 packed meals to the foundation. They are expected to provide 300 more packed meals within the week.

“We are delighted that we had a little share in serving them [frontliners] the best food in our home that . . . somehow can give strength to the hard situation that we are currently facing.” Abdul expressed. “Thank you very much [to the frontliners] for the job you did to help our fellow citizens. You deserve to be heroes of our country.”♦

Date of Release: 6 July 2020