She is an ordinary Filipino citizen whose one small act of charity started a nationwide movement. Ana Patricia Non is the initiator of Community Pantry Philippines, a network of autonomous civilian initiatives to provide free goods to neighbourhoods around the country.

It started when Non set out a bamboo cart on an intersection near her house with the sign, “Take according to what you need. Give according to what you can.” The small food bank contained excess canned goods, vegetables and instant noodles from her grocery hoard during the first series of lockdowns announced in Metro Manila. She shared the effort on social media to inform the people in her area where to find it—and woke up to over 15,000 engagements on her post.

In days, donations poured into her bank account and other community pantries sprouted throughout the city. Supermarkets were no longer the only beneficiary to the buying spree of the able, as local farmers began supplying to the various community pantries that cropped up in just a short time.

Her efforts continue today, but she is no longer alone. From that first one on the street of her home, over 5,000 community pantries are now being sustained in different provinces across the archipelago.