It has been said that companies will be judged by their efforts while at the height of this deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
During this difficult time when governments globally are imposing their respective lockdowns and companies are already feeling the pinch of having slower to no business at all, employees, customers and the general public are likely to lean to those who show genuine concern, who have gone beyond their commitments to be of service, and who have rolled out their own measures to help alleviate the unfortunate plight of those in need.
In the Philippines, large corporations have been lending a hand to the government in its fight against this new coronavirus despite the fact that their own businesses have taken a hit from the enhanced community quarantine. The lockdown in Luzon has ground to a halt all non-essential activities and has temporarily shuttered malls, schools, along with other establishments and institutions that do not deliver or provide essential goods and services.
The SM Group, for one, has made significant donations in cash and in kind (medical supplies, test kits and relief packs) while its subsidiaries and affiliates implemented their own measures to help tide their employees, partners, tenants and residents over during the ECQ. One example is SM Development Corp. (SMDC), which recently rolled out The Good Guys Market—an empowering initiative meant to not only help ensure food security of residents but also provide livelihood to local farmers during this challenging time.
Integrated, healthy lifestyle
SMDC communities in Sea, Shell, and Shore Residences in the Mall of Asia (MOA) complex can now safely and conveniently order and purchase fresh vegetables and fruits through The Good Guys Market. Orders are taken weekly and delivered every Sunday straight to the residents’ doorsteps, with no delivery charges.
This community grocer initiative sources the fresh produce from farmers in Benguet and Pampanga who are part of SM Foundation’s Kabalikat Sa Kabuhayan (KSK) program. More than 26,000 farmers from partner cities and municipalities have undergone the KSK on Sustainable Agriculture Program, which was championed in 2006 by SM Group founder Henry Sy Sr. This holistic program was designed to prepare them in becoming productive and effective farmer-entrepreneurs and now, through The Good Guys Market initiative, hundreds of farmers displaced by the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent declaration of an ECQ are provided with a means to continue selling and earning from their produce.
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