Over 2,000 Filipino Families are Fed Because of Philanthropy in Dallas 

Hunger Free Philippines has been working since 2007 to serve communities in need

By André Averion, Communications Chair

Published September 18th, 2024.

Nearly 2.99 million Filipinos live below the poverty line in the Philippines, but through efforts from Dallas local organizations like Hunger Free Philippines, some families can be fed for weeks. 

“That's why I feel like God helps me to do feeding in my country, to give to those who are in need,” Josephine Bryan, founder of Hunger Free Philippines, said. “When we started Hunger Free Philippines, the vision was to feed [Filipinos], coordinating directly to the poor, directly to these families that are involuntarily hungry. Over the years, that vision evolves. Now we are here building a food pantry, which is the first in the Philippines.”

Hosting their annual fundraiser Sept. 14 at Trinity Church in Highland Park, Dallas, Hunger Free Philippines brought together local community leaders across DFW to fundraise $50,000 in preparation of the Christmas season. At the event they announced their plans for a food pantry in the Philippines, which will additionally act as a learning center and on-field headquarters for volunteers to more directly engage with communities, providing education and community empowerment. 

“For people in the Philippines, hunger is not a choice. For them, it’s a harsh reality that they face every day, not by their own decision, but by circumstance,” Bryan said. “ It’s a daily battle and unrelenting burden by millions of families, and the pain of an empty stomach is constant. Children go to school hungry, unable to focus. Parents struggle to make simple meals last.” 

The Philippines Statistics Authority recorded that 10.9% of the Filipino population lives in poverty as of 2023, which is equivalent to 2.99 million families without enough income to meet their basic food needs. Additionally, according to a survey by the Social Weather Station, 46% of Filipino families classified themselves as poor, with another 33% claiming they were on the borderline. 

While the poverty rate in the Philippines is on the decline, it’s created vulnerability in lower wage industries such as agriculture and fishing, forcing many in poverty to enter the cities where they are exploited for labor or forced to the streets as homeless shelters do not exist. 

Hunger Free Philippines has visited over 21 cities, serving 2,192 families with groceries and providing over 66,000 meals and 500 flip flops for those in need by using the funds they receive from the community to buy supplies there, helping further circulate the market and foster long-term development.

The nonprofit officially began in 2007 after Bryan returned to the Philippines to visit her ill father, confronted with the hardship she had become alienated from in two decades of living in Dallas. She began sending balikbayan boxes full of clothes and canned goods back to communities in need, eventually encouraging others to share in her mission to join her to visit the Philippines each year to hand out food, shoes, and necessary groceries.  

Support for Hunger Free Philippines can be found on their website.