The Philippine Online Chronicles

It was 6 a.m. in

I shook off sleep and concentrated on the news. My husband looked at me and nodded, letting me know that he heard.

And when the girls were up for breakfast, I told them about the news, too. The first thing the girls told me was: “Mama, instead of sending our old toys to that television channel asking for donations, let us send ours to the Philippines.”

That is how our family began to organize help for our devastated kababayan in Mindanao.

Later that day, my older daughter talked to her friends and classmates, informing them about what happened in the Philippines. Her school friends and classmates were enthusiastic to help.

That same afternoon, bags of used clothes and pairs of shoes and some blankets were delivered to our doorsteps. All because they heard the story from my girls.

And when our friendly neighbors read and heard about what happened in the news, some of them stopped me in the streets, asking what they could do to help. I responded that people would appreciate some old clothes and blankets.

Oh let me tell you -- I am already receiving a steady supply of used clothes and shoes and sometimes even kitchen accessories from my former neighbors. They know that there are people in the Philippines who need stuff. So every time they de-clutter their homes, most of the items that could still be used are passed on to me. I sort them out and keep what I know can be used back home. Those winter clothes and boots, I donate to the Red Cross box near our place. One time, I received loads of homemade marmalades and jams!!! Simply because this kindly old lady lives alone and is fond of gardening and preserving her harvests.

Anyway, I do not refuse anything. I accept all that is given and keep them in our storeroom until a balikbayan box is full, whereupon I send it to my family who distributes the stuff. I used to send them to a charity house, the Bahay Kalinga in Manila, but it moved to a new location and I don’t know where to find them anymore.

Then I met a pastor who informed me that he owns a charity house named Strong Tower Ministries International Inc. So, I started sending all the balikbayan boxes intended for the needy to him. Soon, but not soon enough, I discovered that all the donations are being kept in his home, being used by him and his family. Be warned of these unscrupulous individuals who hide behind the names of charity houses and but actually appropriate the donations for personal use.

That is why I have lately decided to send the donations to my family, who I have no doubt would give them to the needy. After all, my mother used to donate even clothes I was still using if she thought there were others who needed them more. She was also prone to give away items supposed to be for her to sell and yield a bit of income for her. But then, that’s my mother – the paragon of generosity and kindness.

It is also good to know that LBC is accepting donations and sending them without freight charge to the disaster areas.

I refuse to ask for monetary donations, except of course, those coming from special sales or cake bazaars created specifically for communities in need. And if that is the case, I would still send the money to my parents. I would ask them to buy the items really needed in the disaster area and deliver these to straight to the victims. Of course, there is also the Red Cross to channel the donations to if the area is too remote.

Some of the money I might also use to send the balikbayan boxes, unless we have the extra money to pay for them, of course.

Another source of help and donations are the churches, especially those where we belong to. My girls and I are Catholics, my husband a Protestant. The whole family is active in both churches. So we know there are people ready to provide help in case of emergency -- people ready to organize a special cake bazaar, people ready to bake cakes, people ready to buy these cakes and people ready to collect and sort out donated items.

In return, I ask the recipients to send me their pictures with the donated items. As a token of appreciation to the people who give generously, I post these photos on community bulletin boards. Sometimes, these also get published in the local papers.

From my experience, it is easy to organize the community when disaster strikes. It helps also that the girls are aware of what is happening in the Philippines. It helps that they share what they know with their friends. It helps that we live in a community ready to help others, no matter who and where they are.

Raquel Erhard blogs at Deutschland in Review and Home Worked.