After Typhoon Haiyan’s devastating sweep through the Philippines on Nov. 8, Aragon students joined together in an effort to help those affected. The typhoon, also called Typhoon Yolanda, caused massive destruction and displaced over 4 million people.
The Filipino Club held a Yolanda Relief drive that ended Nov. 29. They collected clothing, shoes, and food to send to the Filipino typhoon victims. This drive resulted in the collection of 16 large cardboard boxes filled with goods for the victims: three boxes of children’s clothing; three boxes of blankets, pillows, and towels; two boxes of footwear; six boxes with adult clothing; one box with jackets and sweatshirts; and one box with canned goods and relief items from the American Red Cross Club.
“The disaster literally blew over everything that people had in the central Philippines, so all our goods will be targeting Guiuan island, northern Cebu, and that general area,” says Filipino Club president and senior Nikki Sanchez.
In addition, they are currently doing a Pag-asa Project; pag-asa means “for hope” in Tagalog. They are selling T-shirts and organizing activities to raise money and will donate the funds to help the Philippines in the aftermath of the typhoon.
Students are also encouraged to donate money if they do not wish to donate clothes or food. “Right now we have on our Facebook page a website that goes directly to Philippine Red Cross,” explains Sanchez. “We also have Direct Relief website, which sends 100 percent, [and] they assure you that your money goes directly to those people. We are also going to be collecting money … and then sending it through Red Cross as well.”
The Red Cross Club worked with the Filipino Club in Yolanda relief by putting together and sending kits to the Philippines that contain first aid supplies, food, necessities such as toothbrushes, and water purification kits. They also included hand-written notes from the club members, showing the typhoon victims that they have Aragon’s support.
“Thousands of people have already died from the typhoon itself, but there are still thousands more that are dying because of the conditions that they are in now,” said Red Cross Club co-vice president, junior Netta Wang at a club meeting. “So any small thing is immeasurably more important and more valuable to them than it would be for us right now.”
Although immediate relief is important, Red Cross president and senior Brandon Yan stressed the need to continue to provide aid for Philippines. At a club meeting, he said, “It goes on and on for a long time, especially in countries that don’t have the ability to revitalize themselves in a very quick time.”
For some students who have family in the Philippines, this matter is especially pressing. “I have an aunt who lives on one of the islands that was affected,” says senior Nina Canton. She adds that even though her aunt is all right, 80 percent of the island was destroyed by the storm.
“[The Philippines are] used to having typhoons but this is probably one of the biggest typhoons that we’ve experienced, and so we weren’t really ready for it,” Canton adds. “It’s really devastating to see how many people were affected, and how we just weren’t really prepared for it.”
