In August 2020, in the thick of the pandemic, KAWA Pilipinas first opened its doors.
The kitchen started at home, with organizers cooking for whoever needed a meal. The name comes from the “kawa,” the giant wok used to cook for a crowd emphasizing the scale adjusted for the community with food as its love language.
The kitchen has outgrown its garage more than once. It moved to Pasay in 2021 with the support of the Oblate Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer, then to Benilde’s campus in Taft in April 2024, where its first day meant 1,827 bowls of champorado.
It now runs out of a home on Ayala St. in Malate and the meal count has kept pace. Partners were citing around 315,000 meals served in mid-2024, and the counter on KAWA’s website now reflects 733,709 on October 10.
The need that Metro Manila has for volunteer work like this hasn’t shrunk. Social Weather Stations’ survey from September 2026 found that 22.6 percent of Filipino families had gone hungry with nothing to eat at least once in the past three months, higher than the 21.1 percent average of 2020, the year KAWA started. Further, Metro Manila’s rate was the highest of any major area in the country, at 27 percent.
The volunteer-driven community kitchen cooks hot meals for the homeless, the urban poor, persons deprived of liberty, and survivors of calamities.
Most of this work falls to students, retirees, security guards, mothers, and chefs who have all taken a turn at the prep table, and Benilde’s culinary educators have trained volunteers in kitchen management, menu planning, nutrition, and sanitation.
Many of its newer volunteers are Gen Z, some of whom share their “KAWA days” or “Day in a Life of a KAWA volunteer” videos on TikTok. What comes out of the kitchen is familiar food like lugaw, champorado, ginisang munggo, pancit bihon, and Pinoy spaghetti.
In one outreach with Meralco volunteers earlier this year, around 3,000 people got hot meals along Kalaw Avenue and outside the Philippine General Hospital, including caregivers waiting on their loved ones.
KAWA also shows up beyond the kitchen. One of the volunteer stories on its website is from the September 21, 2025 Baha sa Luneta rally against corruption, and its list of partners and sponsors runs from Jollibee Group Foundation and Nestlé to Mama Sita’s and the Supreme Court of the Philippines.
Volunteers can sign up by messaging KAWA’s Facebook page, and for anyone who can’t spare a day in the kitchen, its website lists bank, GCash, and PayPal details for donations.
In your own small way, you can volunteer at a kitchen like this or start sharing meals with the people around you.
