As the feast of San Isidro Labrador approaches this Sunday, images of colorful thanksgiving processions for bountiful harvests come to mind in Sariaya and Lucban, Quezon, and Talavera, Nueva Ecija. The bagakays line the procession route, prepared with pahiyas, or rice cakes, and samples of harvests and products of families, ready for grabs (literally) and giving away to symbolize sharing of the blessings of good harvest. Patron saint of farmers and food security, San Isidro is said to have angels from heaven work with him in the fields to ensure no one is ever hungry in his community.

With the recent storms and flooding, and the Social Weather Stations’ (SWS) dismal report on hunger statistics, San Isidro will need not only angels in heaven but angels among us to boost food for the body.

The SWS reported that for the first quarter of 2011, self-rated food poverty was at 40 percent, and households that experienced hunger were at 20.5 percent. A quick check with the latest available statistics of the National Statistics Coordination Board shows that in 2008, the proportion that experienced hunger but did not eat was already at 16.1 percent among mothers and 11.1 percent among children. Indeed, the Conditional Cash-Transfer program was partly designed and implemented to this present day to address hunger, even as policy discussions continue to search for more sustainable programs.

Last week San Isidro’s “foot angels” were apparently at work among parishes in New Mexico, US, and the US Conference Catholic Bishops. In Corrales, New Mexico, where San Isidro’s feastday is marked by street fiesta and dancing, the diocese launched its “First Fridays for Food Security” program to raise awareness about food insecurity. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) also launched this on Facebook, urging individuals and families to share their “experiences of limiting how much they spend on a meal on the First Friday of each month beginning May 6 and running through April 6, 2012.” How will they benchmark the price of the meal? If you check their Facebook site, you will find the US Department of Agriculture’s “Modified Thrifty Food Plan.” It matches the family size with the price and the amount of food. For example, a family of four has less than $20 to spend daily for all of its meals in order to stay on budget. The  USCCB said this can be considered a form of fasting and, at the same time, set a leadership example for cuts in normal spending on food in affluent economies. “The program also gives Catholics the opportunity to pray and advocate for people who do not have enough to eat,” reports the Catholic News Service.

This week San Isidro’s “foot angels” were also at work in Caritas Manila with the Hapag-Asa Feeding Program and the Youth Servant Leadership Program. In our country, 200,000 children aged zero to 5 are wasting from hunger. Three out of every 10 Filipino children are malnourished. Hapag-Asa leads the integrated nutrition program implemented in the parishes. Various organizations, institutional partners, families and local government units help with facilities, medicine and equipment. The Youth Servant Leadership and Education Program (YSLEP) is two-pronged: servant leadership formation and academic assistance. Caritas Manila’s integrated formation program requires scholars and their parents to go through the servant leadership modules together, including health and nutrition, linked with the Hapag-Asa feeding program. From the time the programs started, Hapag-Asa has reached 18,000 malnourished children and YSLEP has graduated over 4,000 college scholars from class D and E families.

This Sunday both Hapag-Asa and YSLEP will get a “soft boost” from YLEAD—the Youth Leadership Visitors Exchange Program that brings second- and third-generation Fil-Canadian youths to the Philippines and, in turn, brings Philippine-based youth leaders to Canada. The YLEADers then go through study visits of Caritas Manila’s programs and the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation advocacies and programs. The brainchild of Vancouver Times publisher-editor in chief Mars de la Cruz, who is also the president of the Philippine Community Center Society of British Columbia, YLEAD had a soft launching with its partners—Caritas Manila, the Aquino Foundation and Friends of CoryVets—signing a memorandum of understanding and setting the first YLEAD exchange to take place during the Feast of San Isidro in 2012. The search for the YLEADers officially begins this Sunday, with the theme, “Global Hunger Kills: How do you lead to feed your community?” In Sariaya, Quezon, the Filipino translation of this Caritas Internationalis Prayer, originally written by Fr. Ignatius Ikunza, Hakimani Jesuit Center, Kenya, is also included in the food bags hanging in bagakays:

Dearest God,

Open our eyes and our hearts so that we are able to see you in every one of your children. May we embrace first the ties that bind us to each other, and recognize that you created us into one family for compassion, caring and sharing.

From the time of birth, we need each other; other human hands lifted us from the womb. We rely on others to feed us, protect us, teach us and love us into life. Open our hearts to the needs of your innocent people suffering from the persistent burden of hunger and mobilize our spirits to respond to them. Counter the outrage and anger we feel against injustice with love.

Grant that, inspired by the vision of human solidarity, we may invest our material resources in bringing liberation to the despair of poverty and returning hope to your children. Stir our hearts to compassionate action that transforms suffering into redemptive love, now and forever more.

Amen.