Over $160K Raised To Assist Typhoon Victims
Pledges and donations amounting to over $160,000 have come in to assist victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, with the Association of Filipinos in Bermuda having raised over $23,000, while the Bermuda Red Cross has received $138,708 in pledges and donations.
A spokesperson from the Association of Filipinos in Bermuda said, “The Association has raised over $23,000 and has made its initial distribution of the funds raised in equal portions to 3 charities, namely: Philippine Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services and Operation Blessing.
“In its effort to fulfill its commitment to assist the families of Filipinos in Bermuda who were directly affected by Typhoon Haiyan, officers of the Association met with these Filipinos yesterday and presented them funds to assist in providing basic needs to their families and to assist them in relocating their families to different parts of the country.
“Some of these families have lost their relatives and/or had their properties totally damaged and some have not yet heard from their loved ones. Relief has been slow in reaching many of these affected areas due to the magnitude of the situation and the Association is assisting them relief from the burdens of this horrible disaster.
“Tears were shed as some of them are still in mourning for the loss of their relatives and many are unsure about the future of their families. After the meeting, these Filipinos felt some reassurance that support is being provided to them by their fellow Filipinos and by the Bermudian community.
“The Association’s next fundraising event is this coming Sunday, November 24th, 5 pm at the St. Paul’s AME Church in Hamilton City. A full Thanksgiving Dinner will be provided by Pizza House at the cost of $20 per person. Donations are also welcome. A short entertainment will be provided by the Association dancers and singers. After that, other fundraising events are planned in the coming weeks.
“The Association would also like to remind the public that they are not sending containers full of used clothing at the moment due to the logistics of organizing this. The immediate need is for food, medicine, and temporary shelter, and the best way of fulfilling this is through the on-site charity organizations currently providing relief for the survivors.”
Typhoon Haiyan was one the most powerful storms to ever make landfall, carrying sustained winds of 195 mph, and gusts reaching 235 mph. Over 3,000 people have been confirmed dead, with thousands more injured and missing, while millions more have been affected by the storm.
First of all i would like to say that it is a horrible tragedy what happened to the victims of the typhoon in the Philippines. I would also like to say that my heart goes out to ALL of the victims of the Philippines!! Without being insensitive WHAT ABOUT HELPING OUR OWN BERMUDIANS FIRST! The thing that really IRRITATES and ANNOYS ME the most is that these same Bermudians that are donating all of this money to the Philippines won’t give ONE DOLLAR to help somebody right here in their OWN COUNTRY!! Bermudians would even go to another country and help to build houses and help clean up other countries for FREE! Ask these same Bermudians to help build a low cost house in Bermuda for FREE or clean up a badly littered area in Bermuda for free and see what they say! 9 times out of ten they WON”T do it!!! I believe in the old saying to “TAKE CARE OF HOME FIRST” then and only then you can go out and help other people! For people that don’t UNDERSTAND this principle the best way i can help you to understand it is like this! If there was a natural disaster right now in Bermuda and your roof blew off your house and you had 3 kids and a wife that were screaming and panicking and needing help would you go 10 miles away to help another family or would you take care of YOUR OWN HOME first? And lets be real!! Well the same logic and rational should be used in this scenario! We haven’t even taken care of our own BERMUDIANS but yet we can donate $138,708 to the Philippines! My first question is this this! HOW MUCH MONEY DID THE PHILIPPINES GIVE TO BERMUDA FOR HURRICANE FABIAN, HURRICANE EMILY AND ALL OF THE OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS THAT BERMUDA HAS HAD? All of these Bermudians that are unemployed that are struggling to pay bills , eat food, have shelter and just survive and you wanna give $138,708 to the Philippines!!!! Something is TRULY wrong with this picture!!!
Looking forward to the Thanksgiving Dinner of Sunday at 5pm. Filipino entertainment is always great.
The situation in the region affected by the typhoon is dire and in many cases life theatening. To compare Bermuda’s plight with the devastation in the Philippines – well there is no comparison. Of course people are suffering here but there are agencies that can and do help those in need.
I have no say on what people donate out of their own pockets & no one else should because everyone is free to spend their earnings how they want. What I do think is extremely foolish is anyone who gives money to charity that they burrowed & have no means of paying back especially if they are already deep in debt & possibly incurring an interest rate.
Maybe there aren’t many agencies in the Philippines that can help but with a GDP of $454.286 billion & a mass amount of natural resources they do have the capabilities to help Leyte. There are very large areas of the north & south that were not affected & I don’t understand why their president didn’t rally the whole of those areas to help the central part that was hit hard. President Aquino III needs to grow a conscience & make sure the wealth is spread more evenly in Philippines & stop whining about how much China has given compared to others when he has no room to talk.