Members of Club Filipino have mobilized support for a fundraising campaign to support victims of Typhoon Haiyan.
The typhoon, which swept through the Philippines last week, is among the strongest storms in recorded history and left more than 4,000 people dead and 921,000 people displaced, as estimated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. In total, 11.8 million people were affected by the typhoon.
“Typhoon Haiyan was the largest storm recorded in history, so it’s only necessary that it receives the largest amount of relief in history,” said Bianca Castro (MSB ’15), a member of Club Filipino’s Hoyas for the Philippines fundraising campaign whose family lives in the Filipino capital Manila.
Hoyas for the Philippines, which has approximately 10 active planning members in addition to other volunteers, launched a donation page Tuesday morning on Fundly, an online fundraising platform, which will continue for 60 days. In addition to the campaign’s online presence, students tabled each day this week in Leavey Center to collect donations and spread awareness. The campaign set a fundraising goal of $2,000 and had raised $757 at press time.
“Everyone worked really hard and really quickly to get the website together and reach out to groups,” Club Filipino Secretary Jemm Dela Cruz (SFS ’16) said. “People reached out to us too, so it was really great to hear the support from others. We’re looking forward to working with other entities on how to further get more collections and donations.”
In addition to these fundraising efforts, Hoyas for the Philippines is working on an online campaign video to be posted this weekend.
“One thing that we wanted to do was to highlight members of the Georgetown community for whom this issue is particularly important,” Club Filipino External Liaison Helena Manguerra (NHS ’15), whose family lives on the island of Luzon, said.
Typhoon Haiyan did not affect many students’ families beyond the experience of heavy rains or power outages. The worst damage was in Tacloban, a city 360 miles southeast of Manila.
“My family did lose power the first day or two but things were fine, Internet was fine,” Randy Puno (COL ’16), whose family is from Manila, said. “We had no trouble making sure everyone was OK.”
Students have been able to check in with loved ones in the Philippines.
“I have aunts and uncles whose homes were affected and on my grandma’s house, the roof was blown off, so that’s bad, but we’re just glad everyone’s OK,” Cruz said. “My sister’s boyfriend hasn’t heard from his family yet, so they’re still waiting.”
Some students’ family members have also helped with typhoon relief. Jocelyn Flores’ (COL ’17) grandfather is volunteering for the Red Cross in the Philippines. Although Flores’ family is from Manila and the province of Cagayan, Flores said that she does not know where specifically her grandfather is volunteering.
“It’s extremely difficult because even though they’re establishing Red Cross coordinators there, there’s immense damage,” Flores said. “My grandpa told me that families are being relocated and some are being relocated to areas in Vietnam, just because cities are completely destroyed.”
The Center for Social Justice has joined Club Filipino in mobilizing support for the region through its own online donation platform.
Donations to the CSJ campaign will go to the Disaster Response and Management Team at Ateneo de Manila University, located in the Philippines, as well as the Filipino Society of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart; both have been involved in relief efforts in the region.
Tentatively, donations to Hoyas for The Philippines will go to the Philippines Red Cross.
“We wanted to choose an organization that was Philippine-based and was already on the ground coordinating the effort and was local,” Manguerra said.
In addition to these fundraising efforts, Hoyas for the Philippines is planning a benefit concert for the week after Thanksgiving, which will feature performing arts, music and dance groups and possibly a dance-a-thon. The organization is in the process of choosing a date and the specific groups that will perform.
“We really want to publicize it as the culminating end event of weeks of fundraising and tabling in Leavey, and hopefully we can get a great turnout,” Club Filipino Social Justice Chair Katie Amigo (COL ’15) said. “That way, we can get as many donations and as much help as we can for the typhoon relief.”
Amid the destruction and early efforts at recovery, Puno pointed to the influence of the Philippines’ climate on its people’s character.
“I just really think that the Philippines have what we call the bayanihan spirit. Despite all this calamity and destruction that we experience every year, we also have quite the fighting spirit,” Puno said. “We have that quality within us to stop whatever we’re doing to help each other out when something bad happens, but it’s nice to see that this time, the whole world seems to be pitching in.”