Hope for the Haiyan Survivors

By: Maria Girlie Pascual

 

From November until December 2013, right after super typhoon Haiyan ravaged the towns of Tacloban, Samar and Coron in the southern islands of the Philippines, the Filipino community was polarized into action to send out relief goods, to donate to different organizations, or to participate in some of the events that were hurriedly put together for the purpose of raising funds to help the victims of this terrible storm. Some lost relatives and friends, some knew people that had direct connections to victims in the stricken areas, while others were so moved that they felt they had to do something personally for these “kababayans”…and the organizers behind the Illinois-Philippines Recovery Operations or IL-PRO, are all of the above. After donating time and talent to various fundraisers in the community but hearing frustrating results from some of these groups, Lou and Baron Cabalona, James DelaCruz and myself started talking about putting together an event before their scheduled wedding in Boracay in February, then delivering the funds personally to the survivors after the wedding. It seemed to make sense because both Baron and James suffered the agony of waiting for news the first six days after the storm hit the Philippines because Baron’s relatives in Tacloban, and James’ father in Samar were all missing. It took several days to finally receive word that they were ok, but at the same time, they heard first-hand accounts of the terrible devastation that has affected countless residents in their respective towns in both Tacloban and Samar. Meanwhile in Manila, my College of the Holy Spirit classmates started a movement to personally collect and rally for help for the natives of Coron in Palawan, an area that was also badly hit but was not being mentioned in the news so relief operations bypassed this part of the Philippines. Coron Mayor Clara Fems Reyes had to reach out to friends and associates to be able to get relief goods over to her constituents by private means just to make sure the victims received food, medical care and supplies. Despite these measures, Tacloban, Samar and Coron are still in dire need of medical help, building materials and ways and means to enable the survivors to fully recover from their tattered lives. Since Baron and Lou’s wedding will be officiated in Boracay, what’s another side trip to Tacloban and Samar after their nuptials to personally make sure that the funds reach the proper recipients? Thus, the Typhoon Haiyan fundraiser came to be, and soon, the ball was officially put in motion on January 3 despite our New Year hangovers, and it kept rolling until January 25 when our efforts culminated at the Copernicus Center in Chicago. After only three weeks of planning sessions, satellite meetings via phone conference calls and blast announcements through social media, Baron and Lou with the Sama-Sama Project reached out to the Philippine American Cultural Foundation’s (PACF) Ruben and Merle Salazar and Adeline Fajardo, and with James DC and myself, the concept for a “fiesta” format of an event was presented and approved, a goal was set and an email blast went out the very next day, courtesy of Lou who designed the poster, and IL-PRO was officially launched. Soon after, Yvonne Hortillo and Rohan Zhou-Lee took over for social media and really went all out with email and Facebook postings. Their joint effort resulted in a fast moving and efficient way of sending out announcements and invitations, and this became the cornerstone of our push to get the word out to as many people as soon as possible, and it worked. Ana Millan joined in to assist with the souvenir program, Almira Gilles volunteered to work with the food vendors, and Cindy Lopez came in to the fold to help with the venue layout, the auction and the raffle portions of the event. Everything came into place right after Lou was able to secure the Copernicus Center as our venue with exactly zero costs for our project. This was a huge break for our fundraiser and inspired everyone to aim for a $10000 mark. We would have wanted the figure to be higher, but with only three weeks to work on this, we all decided that this figure should be good enough to fund a medical mission as well as provide the much-needed donations for some of the survivors’ needs, while giving them a world of hope as we continue to raise funds for them. We also agreed that we cannot solve all of the victims’ problems, but doing nothing would be worse. The monies came in, more volunteers signed up to help and performers signed up to be part of the program. From 5 pm to 11 pm on January 25, 2014, throngs of participants, sponsors and donors came to the Copernicus Annex and the attendance was so great that the venue had to be closely monitored so as not to exceed maximum capacity. Corporate sponsors like Home Depot and Allstate were physically represented, and thanks to Randy Santana and Rowell Ramirez of 40-Tude Restaurant and Bar in Schaumburg, we were able to sell donated food to the hungry audience that braved sub-zero temperatures to be a part of something significant. All told, feedback from the attendees were happily favorable, but the greatest compliment we got that night was when we reached, and exceeded our $10000 goal. Our heartfelt thanks to all of you who made our Haiyan Fundraiser the huge success that it was, and without whom this would not have been at all possible. Special thanks to the Via Times and CPRTV cast and crew who were there to help sell tickets, perform and, yes, donate. As of press time, there will be two medical missions funded by the ILPRO Haiyan Fundraiser, one that will go to Tacloban, the other to the Paluan region in Occidental Mindoro. This effort will be headed by Dr. Ariel Tolentino and Baron Cabalona of the Fairmont Healthcare Center. Lou, James Delacruz, Ruben and Merle Salazar and Adeline Fajardo of the PACF, Anna Millan, and a host of volunteers will accompany the group to Tacloban and Samar, then to Coron, Palawan with myself, Ed and Lolit Ranchero of LMR Home Health Corporation, Rowena Esquivel and Carla Soria from the Asian American Golfers of Illinois or AAGI. These will all be documented along the way and, hopefully, whatever help we extend to these needy families will make a difference to them, and to everyone that put their heart and soul into the effort. NOTE: The PACF will continue to accept donations on behalf of ILPRO. The Philippine American Cultural Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization and your help may be tax deductible. Receipts may be forwarded to you upon request. You can send your donations with your checks made out to PACF with ILPRO on the memo line of your check, and mail it to Via Times at 3108 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago IL 60618, or you can also donate online at http://ilphrecoveryops.wordpress.co m/2014/01/10/online-donationsaccepted/

(1) Girlie welcomes all attendees, sponsors, performers and hosts and encourages everyone to keep donating to the cause; (2) Girlie and Joe enjoy the event’s energy and great vibe–all for helping Haiyan; (3) The CPRTV LOL Group with Karla Maglantay, Jory, Clear Impact Sound and Light tech, Ayza Marcelo and Baron Cabalona making sure that the music and raffle donations keep moving along.

Cook County Judge Beauty and Brains Jessica O’Brien (middle) poses with Rowena Esquivel, Dodjie Pascual, Carla Soria and Girlie after sharing inspiration and words of encouragement for the IL-PRO Haiyan fundraiser.

 

Cast, Crew and Coordinators of the Illinois Philippines Recovery Operations (IL-PRO) after a very successful and fulfilling night of music, laughter, and fun raising money for our kababayans in Tacloban, Samar and Coron–Congratulations!