They said that one way to win man’ or woman’s heart is through his or her stomach.

But for Mr. Melchor Perez – a MAPEH Teacher and a Master Teacher II of Don Ramon E. Costales Memorial National High School (DRECMNHS) in Villasis and his wife, Mrs. Gina Regua-Perez – a former         Math Teacher from the same school, now a Math Teacher in the United States of America (USA), a simple snack a day is a big deal for community frontliners and can help save lives and win our fight against the pandemic corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

 Mr. & Mrs. Perez, with their commitment to serve, started extending their help last March 28, 2020 to their community frontliners on-duty in Barangay Lipay, Villasis, Pangasinan in particular by providing snacks and meals.

 “We’ve seen the willingness of our barangay frontliners to fight the spread of COVID-19 by risking their health and their life guarding the entry and exit points of our barangay 24/7,” said Mr. Perez.

 The couple, using their money from their own pocket to finance their charity work, is cooking daily a variety of snacks such as pancit, Belo Belo, Miki, and Chicken Embutido and were delivered in the checkpoint area of the barangay from 2 o’clock to 3 o’clock in the afternoon for the Barangay Officials, Civilian Volunteer Officers (CVOs) and Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) who are on the frontlines.

 “Our simple gesture of extending our help is our way to boost their morale and to let them feel that they are not alone in the fight in the midst of COVID-19 chaos,” Mrs. Perez added during the interview.    

The small act of kindness of the couple had its big impact to the lives of the benefited frontliners making also the community open their eyes and hearts to do also their part to take care of the community members and the frontliners during this COVID-19 crisis.

With the soaring cases as of Wednesday, April 1, as the country entered the third week of its Luzon-wide lockdown, the Department of Health (DOH) reported fatalities that bothered the Filipino people because of the increasing death toll and cases of COVID-19.

However, the couple believed that despite this happening, discipline by staying home for safety, strengthening faith, and by spreading love and compassion to all will surely help to stop the virus and together, we will all heal as one.

By Zarex Andree E. Cabatbat