IT?S the time of the year to give back. After 11 months of decadent pleasure with foie gras, chocolate, wine and cheese, it?s time to cleanse away all that guilt by giving back.

The hunger statistics worldwide have actually become quite devastating. According to a report from the British Broadcasting Company, almost 60 percent of people from 26 countries say that higher food and energy prices this year have affected them, with the Philippines one of the worst hit among the nations questioned.

According to Social Weather Stations (SWS) surveys, the proportion of Filipino households in hunger has been in the double-digit level for the past 18 quarterly national surveys since 2004. The number of hungry households ranged from 11.5 to 21.5 percent from June 2004 to September 2008. During the third quarter of this year alone, 3.3 million Filipino households admitted to being hungry, SWS surveys revealed. Hunger in Metro Manila alone has reached a record high of 23 percent, which means that one out of four Pinoys goes to bed hungry.

For the blessed ones who can afford not only three meals a day but also expensive dinners out, some giving back is due. So instead of listing the best restaurants for the year 2008, I?m featuring two of the best charities that concentrate on giving food to the poor: the United Nation?s World Food Program and Caritas Manila?s Hapag Asa.

The World Food Program is the official food agency of the United Nations and the world?s largest humanitarian agency. According to Stephen Andersen, country director for the World Food Program, the program is focused on ?helping find solutions to hunger? as well as in using food to help ?save lives,? as in using food to keep children in school or to assist pregnant women in clinics.

The principal beneficiary of the World Food Program in the Philippines are the war-afflicted areas in Mindanao. As we spoke, Andersen was in Maguindanao in the middle of a feeding program. ?We chose Mindanao because if there?s a hunger problem, it?s usually due to a variety of reasons. Here, we think it?s primarily due to the conflict. We are helping those who have been internally displaced through direct food assistance, among other projects,? Andersen explained. The program?s target is to raise P7.6 million for the conflict-affected areas of Mindanao for different projects, including one called Food for Education, where food is used as incentive to keep children in school. Knowing that they have enough to eat prevents these kids from giving up their education in favor of doing odd jobs to help out their household.

For donations to the World Food Program, visit www.wfp.org/donate or call Patricia Facultad, Donor Relations Officer, United Nations at (632) 750-2561 local 2410 or 0917-8809368 or 0918-9028412 or e-mail patricia.facultad@wfp.org.

Another worthwhile charity is Caritas Manila?s Hapag Asa (Table of Hope). A project of the Archdiocese of Manila, Hapag Asa serves 15,000 children in Metro Manila annually through a monitored nutritional program that makes sure that the underweight and undernourished grow healthy. According to Fr. Anton Pascual of Caritas Manila, the process includes first weighing the children to determine their level of undernourishment, deworming, and six months of feeding program where they are given 20 to 25 varieties of food five times a week twice a day. A monthly check up is also included.

?The problem with malnutrition is ignorance,? Father Anton explained. ?Mothers are not aware of how to feed their kids nutritiously so they have to be educated. Nutrition need not be expensive. For example, instead of cooking and feeding their children malunggay, they keep giving the kids instant noodles, which later affect the kidneys. So aside from directly feeding the children, we also give mothers classes where they are taught health, nutrition and values formation.?

For the cost of one dinner out?say P1,200 to P1,500?you can actually feed one child for the entire six-month program.

Donations for Hapag Asa may be sent to Caritas Manila. Tel. (632) 563 9308. Or visit caritasmanila.org.ph or pondongpinoy.org.ph.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and may you have a blessed New Year!