More Help Needed for Ondoy Victims

After the unimaginable wrath of Typhoon Ondoy, the suffering of the more than half a million people dislocated by the floods is far from over. As the government struggles to deliver food and emergency supplies, relief workers and delivery trucks have been swamped by victims, desperate for nourishment and medical attention. Even more unfortunate is that in the hardest hit places, such as Provident, there have been reports of looting and fighting.

As the government intensifies its efforts, and as more and more volunteers and organizations take initiatives to help those ravaged by Ondoy, there is much, much more needed to be done. We urge everyone to contribute to the relief drive by donating clothes, blankets, medicine, food, and the like.

Through the Internet, especially social-networking sites, information is spreading fast on where and how to lend your help. The following are just a few posts we have seen from concerned citizens:

• We need more volunteers at La Salle Green Hills now! Also need more donations to be delivered to Gate 2, La Salle Green Hills, Ortigas avenue, Mandaluyong City

• UP SAGIP ISKO is in need of more relief goods and transportation volunteers! Operations will continue until Friday starting at 7am at the Church of the Risen Lord UP Diliman.

• Volunteers for the Ondoy relief effort are needed! You can to go to the Akbayan HQ (36B Madasalin St., Sikatuna Village, QC). Call 9255843 or 09175381816 for your pledges. Vehicles/trucks going to evacuation centers are welcome.

• SAGIP! A benefit gig for the victims of Typhoon Ondoy @ ALS BAR! Oct 2, 2009 Friday 8pm! Aguirre Ave. BF Paranaque, Phase I, above Watson's, next to Starbuck's, and across Tropical Hut. Entrance Fee: PhP150 (All Proceeds will go to Red Cross)

For an in-depth list of places where you can give donations or volunteer, visit this page.

Please join the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers who have lent their time, resources, and efforts in helping Ondoy’s victims—they need all the help they can get.

0 comments:

    Kay tamis ng ating samahan sa lungkot at kaligayahan. Tunay na kaibigan, kasamang maaasahan. Salamat at tayo'y may pinagsamahan. Salamat, tunay kong kaibigan

    (Salamat, by The Dawn)

    Mike has always been dear to us since we were kids. He’s a good friend who came running when we needed him. Mike was the go-to guy even before he became Cong. Mike, and then Sec. Defensor. Many of us knew he was destined for public service. Mike was the consummate politician, a trait he developed since grade school. We thought he would go on to become president, if he didn’t disappoint the fickle Filipino public.

    But it seems he has. So much so that he is vilified by the media at every opportunity. His actions are always placed within the perspective of his relationship with an unpopular president. Justifiable, though harsh.

    So we set up this blog. Some of us have worked with him and have seen him make what we thought were good decisions. But some of us were also there when we thought he made wrong ones. But that is how a man is made -- by the choices he makes.

    As his friends, the best we can do is stand by him and try to help everyone else see things from a different light.