Art Relief Mobile Kitchen Davao

We spent a day with the teachers and parents of Bantay Integrated School on one of the hilltops of PM Sobrecarey, Caraga, Davao Oriental, preparing and cooking fresh kalabasa pasta, kalabasa fritters with gravy, kalabasa pancakes, vegetable congee, and honey calamansi juice for the Mandaya students and their families on their Christmas Party day.

Bantay Integrated School was affected by the 7.5 earthquake that hit the region last October 10, 2025. They are currently rebuilding a few classrooms damaged by the earthquake. If you wish to donate, please reach out directly to School Head Angelita Miedes Diano.

Thank you to our partner Matina Community Pantry for making this possible, and our gratitude to Jollibee Group Foundation for providing congee mixes, one of our key ingredients in this run. Our deep gratitude to our partner farmers who tirelessly grew the kalabasa we bought and used in our various dishes.

We will continue to make nutritious community meals, prioritizing local and farm-fresh ingredients that family cooks can take inspiration from.

We hope that everyone celebrates their Christmas and New Year in good health and in peace with their loved ones.

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🎄 Christmas Kalabasa Day 🎄

It’s Christmas Kalabasa Day for Matina Community Pantry , Art Relief Mobile Kitchen, and the Mandaya children of Bantay Integrated School, located in Sitio Dangalas, Barangay PM Sobrecary, Caraga, Davao Oriental.

We will be serving lunch to 139 Manobo pupils and their parents.
Our Kalabasa Menu includes:
🍝 Pasta Kalabasa with spaghetti sauce, ground beef, and chicken hotdogs
🥞 Kalabasa Fritters
🥞 Kalabasa Pancakes
🥚 Boiled Eggs

The kalabasa noodles were handmade by ARMK, and the kalabasa was grown by local farmers from Toril, Davao City.

Kalabasa was chosen because it is nutritious, filling, and abundant. Rich in vitamins A and C, fiber, and antioxidants, it helps nourish growing children. At the same time, using kalabasa helps address overstocked harvests, allowing us to support local farmers by turning surplus produce into meaningful meals.

While this may not be the usual Christmas fare, we do our utmost to serve hot, nutritious meals. Simple food, when prepared with love and care, creates priceless Christmas memories.

🎄💛 Message us to donate and help share a warm Christmas meal.

Magtinabangay.
Mag-inambitay.
Mag-amumahay.

We made fresh pasta today!

Before coming to Butuan for our , we bought freshly-harvested vegetables including squash,okra, and patola from our partner farmers in Davao City. At Barangay Pangabugan, we found the barangay gulayan where we sourced the superfood malunggay we mixed in the congee with the other vegetables. Then we added congee mix seasoning from Jollibee Group Foundation to make the congee tastier.

We love sourcing local ingredients! Freshly harvested ingredients makes our food more nutritious. Buying directly from local farms supports farmers. Growing a community or barangay garden like they do in Barangay Pangabugan makes nutritious food accessible to everyone.

Let's go hyperlocal!

We cooked and delivered arroz caldo with kalabasa, champurado, bam-i with chicken, congee with vegetables, kalabasa maja, and baked cheese breads for Barangay Pangabunga, Butuan residents affected by .

Thank you to Matina Community Pantry, Jollibee Group Foundation , Annipie's, and our private donors, and partner farmers for helping us with the provisions. Big thanks also to our volunteers, most especially youth volunteers from 4H Caraga State University and Kids Who Farm for helping us with coordination, cook prep, cooking, and distribution. We also thank Barangay Pangabunga Council for hosting and accommodating us in the barangay public gym/evac center.

While most flood waters in Butuan have subsided a few days after , part of the low-lying Barangay Pangabugan, flanked by Agusan river and a man-made creek, still remains flooded. According to locals, this has been an annual disaster since the pandemic, with subdivisions opening upstream.

Residents waded through the floodwaters to catch our truck with calderos full of arroz caldo, bam-i, champorado, and cheese bread on Day 1 of our distribution. As we moved towards drier areas of the barangay, we hear stories from locals that they expect another flooding next year.

While we are mainly a food relief volunteer organization chapter that responds during and post-disaster, we recognise the need for disaster-response teams/organizations, EVERYONE, to work on community-based solutions to help address environmental issues. We'll take this slow road with our willing partners.

In Sitio Dangilas, PM Sobrecarey, Caraga, Davao Oriental, indigenous cultural community of our Mandaya manlilikha ng bayan, GAMABA Samporonia Madanlo last November 19, 2025.

Their community is one of the severely hit areas from the previous 7.4 earthquake, where relief response hasn't much entered yet.

Yesterday, we were able to set-up a community kitchen led by the family of our GAMABA and community elders. We were able to serve 500 meals of Bam-i with native chicken and rice for lunch. This was followed in the afternoon by chicken and egg Arroz caldo, feeding more than 200 people.

Thank you to all who made this community kitchen possible--our volunteers, private donors, Matina Community Pantry, and Jollibee Group Foundation for the congee mix and rice.

Photos by Princess Taroza & Nathan Wating

BREAKING: The Nine on the Roof in Luzon, Philippines.

When Super Typhoon Uwan hit Luzon, the water rose faster than anyone could believe.

Nine strangers from nine different walks of life ended up on the same roof that night.

They had never met before. But somehow, all found each other in the flood.

And together… they survived.

RICO (Tricycle Driver):
“I was finishing my last ride when the street disappeared under brown water. My trike stalled. I saw a house light still on and people shouting. I ran there, banged the door, and pulled whoever I could. Didn’t know their names didn’t matter. All that mattered was up. Get higher. Don’t stop moving.”

MAYA (Nurse):
“Power went out at the clinic. I tried calling home no signal. I stepped outside and the street was a river. I followed the sound of voices and climbed the roof with them. My scrubs were soaked, my shoes gone, but I still had my first-aid pouch. That night I wasn’t a nurse. I was just another person trying to keep hearts beating.”

JOMAR (College Student):
“Funny thing I was literally studying disaster management for finals. The exam came early. I saw an old woman trapped by her fence. I helped her climb that’s Aling Nena. I thought I’d fail the test of my life. Turns out, I passed it by getting her to that roof.”

TERESA (Market Vendor):
“The flood took my stall in ten minutes. I was counting coins, then I was counting breaths. A man shouted, ‘Come this way!’ I grabbed my broken umbrella and followed. We pushed each other up that roof one by one. When I finally sat down, soaked and shaking, I realized everything I owned was gone… but I wasn’t alone.”

KIKO (Fisherman):
“The river has moods. That night it was angry. I tied a rope to my waist, tried to save my boat the current snapped it. But I found another rope tangled on a fence and used it to reach the roof. That same rope kept us from being swept away. Lost my boat, but saved nine lives. Fair trade.”

BENJO (Electrician):
“Transformer exploded while I was checking lines sparks flying everywhere. I ran, slipped, sliced my hand open. Climbed the roof holding it together. The nurse patched me up with tape and alcohol wipes. I remember thinking: we fix the wires after storms… but who fixes us when the whole town is underwater?”

LARA (Teacher):
“I stayed behind at school to move books upstairs. Then the creek burst. I waded through floating chairs and rice sacks till I found them. When I sat on that roof, it felt like a classroom again everyone listening, everyone helping. Fear is quieter when you share it.”

ARMAN (Security Guard):
“I swam from the municipal hall. Could barely keep afloat, but I had one bar of signal. When we got on the roof, I used my phone light to flash at rescuers. Five percent battery left but that five percent got us seen. Brightest light I ever held.”

ALING NENA (Grandmother):
“I was feeding my cats when they ran. I should’ve listened. The water came fast I tried climbing the mango tree, but the branch broke. Then a boy grabbed me, Jomar. I prayed the rosary without beads, just fingers and hope. When the rescue boat came, I told them: ‘Don’t forget this roof. It saved nine of us.’”

When rescuers finally reached them hours later, they were cold, hungry, and silent but alive.

Nine strangers, all from different streets, towns, and stories.

Now they call themselves “The Roof Nine.”

And when you ask any of them what they remember most from that night…
…it isn’t the wind, or the darkness, or the fear.

It’s the moment they realized, they didn’t survive alone.

Almost 1300 breads were made and shared to families with partially and totally damaged houses from the recent 7.4 earthquake, sheltering in Manay Tent City and to the neighboring residents of Brgy. Central, Manay Davao Oriental last October 31 and November 1.

Mothers, their children, youth, teachers, Incident Command Post Manay, Evaristo Moralizon National Vocational School Artists Guild and community volunteers joined us in making and breaking bread in our open bread pantry station in the tent city.

Simultaneously, our volunteer artists facilitated a clay play with terracotta taken from the earthquake's ground zero. This was followed the next day with paint play, making a communal mural.

Madaig na salamat to your donations, our volunteers and partners--Moding’s Restaurant for the flour and oil, Matina Community Pantry, EMNVHS Artists Guild, Incident Command Post Manay and to Mamparo Family for hosting our volunteers.

Puhon, we'll be doing our last round of cooking next week to farther communities, hopefully with your continued support in fueling our kitchen.

Donate to our Gcash at 09944833290 and send us a receipt for acknowledgment and accounting.

We're open for more volunteers especially from Davao Oriental. Message us if you're interested.

Photos by Sunshine Paguio, Mark Tolentino, Princess Taroza, Nathan Wating