Award Winning Boxing Judge Bob Bridges Starts Community Pantry in Bulacan
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 20 Apr 2021
It seems the concept of community pantry started in the USA as food bank to cater to the need of the poor has caught on in the Philippines as even a Japanese American boxing official who has adopted the country as his own has put up one in front of his residence in Angat, Bulacan.
While not busy with his main profession as a Games and Amusements Board (GAB) licensed judge-referee, Robert "Bobby" Bridges with the support of a few closest friends and mostly out of his own pocket, developed a community pantry in front of his residence in Angat, Bulacan where poor, needy residents can have food items for free, depending on their requirements.
"We've developed the self-serving pantry at the front of our home and business here in Angat, Bulacan, as being among one the safest ways for the people to come and get what all that's needed while enforcing social distancing, as well as all other such protocols," Bobby said.
"One of the most important things you can do on this Earth is to let people know they are not alone!" Bobby explained his motivation, quoting Shannon Alder.
Above photo: Individuals take their share from Bobby's pantry in Bulacan.
A sign on Bobby's pantry that reads in English: "Will give as we can afford. Take according to your needs."
Bridges and wife pack the consumables for free distribution to people in the neighborhood.
Bobby said they will be enforcing this self-serving pantry as long as it's required though very few of our closest friends have been assisting us voluntarily, as most have come from our own pockets."
This writer met Bobby Bridges in 2019 when he guested in our then weekly radio boxing show at Sports Radio 918 khz am at the heels of a spate of ring related injuries and deaths in the US most memorable were those of Patrick Day and Maxim Dadashev.
Bobby stressed that it is the primary responsibility of the referee to ensure the safety of the boxers more than enforcing the rules to assure a good, clean fight,
He said then that safety and medical procedures were being strictly implemented under and by the Chairman Abraham Mitra-led GAB in tandem with the Department of Health (DOH) that is why there have been no untoward incidents in local pro boxing bouts.
Now 47, Bobby Bridges was born in Japan where his American serviceman father stationed in Okinawa met his Japanese wife. They stayed there for six years before moving to England and back to the US following his father's reassignments.
Following in the footstep of his father, Bobby also joined the service and fulfilled his boyhood dream of becoming a boxer, winning several inter-service competition awsads. He said his love and passion for boxing was nurtured with him watching with his dad reels upon reels of boxing fights and documentaries dating back to the sport's earliest years.
He never got to fight professionally, though.
Bobby visited the Philippines nearly twenty years ago and met his Filipina wife, July, from the sultry seaside town of Pasacao in Camarines Sur. He not only fell in love with her but with the country and he decided to settle here and pursue his another dream, that of being a boxing official.
Being a former boxer and with wide knowledge and understanding of the sport, he soon become a certified professional boxing judge and referee licensed by GAB. He has been also an accredited ring official with the WBC.
Before the Covid pandemic, Bobby was busy doing more judging local fights and doing more refereeing abroad. High point of his career was when he was named Judge of the Year by the WBC in 2018. He was also involved in propagating a China-based new international boxing organization when the pandemic struck.
Bobby Bridges though revealed, he has been working on a personal project for boxing "which I am not at liberty to reveal at this time, But I promise to reveal what it is at the proper time! And it will be huge."
With boxing in general still down, Bobby said he has been busy teaching boxing officiating and judging online, the latest with the WBC Asia Boxing Council.
Bobby said he also used to operate a fitness gym in Angat, Bulacan but it has been close since last year with only him and his wife using the facilities to keep themselves in shape.
He said his being a former boxer and his desire for more knowledge give him some edge over the others as a referee and judge.
But surely his competitive spirit has transcended boxing into community service and charity work. "There are several other community pantries throughout Metro Manila, but ours is among the first ones in Bulacan," he said.
Robert *Bobby* Bridges was given the WBC Hero of Humanity Award in 2020 for his relief and charity works.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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