The Philippines has been hit by 8 different typhoons in the last 2 months, destroying homes and costing lives. Mira Loma’s Filipino Club, also known as “Philippine Culture and Society Awareness” (PCSA), is holding fundraisers to support the its victims.
Filipino culture is just one of many groups in Mira Loma’s vast array of diverse perspectives, but its vibrant members keep the spirit alive. PCSA continues to educate the school about Filipino culture through their club activities and events that benefit both the local and international Filipino community. In their culture-themed meetings, the officers teach Tagalog, an indigenous Filipino language, to the club members and play Kahoot games to test their knowledge. Connecting back to Filipino roots, the club discusses current issues in the Philippines: currently, they focus on the disastrous typhoons that have been affecting the Philippines lately.
These typhoons are no small issue. After a single typhoon, over 240,000 people lost their homes, and the Philippines state news agency (PNA) reported that 301,000 people are being held in evacuation centers, and there are 411 flooded areas, 519 areas without electricity, and 104 areas without telecommunication service. All of this on top of the deadly pandemic creates a situation that enormously endangers the nation.
Due to the tragic events in the Philippines this year, PCSA is fundraising in several ways to maximize the way they can help. First, members will be partnering with restaurants to host fundraiser events, where a certain percentage of the profits from the fundraiser will be given to the host for running the event. Additionally, they are running a hand-made mask and bracelet fundraiser, where participants will produce handcrafted face masks and bracelets that will be sold in the Sacramento area through online shopping. Finally, they are creating a recycling campaign, during which individuals will work together to collect bottles and cans sent to recycling centers in exchange for payment donated to disaster relief. The funds collected from the officer-led fundraisers will go to an organization called Save the Children PH, which aims to create better lives for undernourished and poverty-stricken Filipino children.
Of course, Filipino typhoons are nothing new. Every year, the Philippines is hit by a slew of tropical storms. This year, however, these storms are one of the many things COVID has complicated. Evacuation procedures are tight – literally. They involve moving large groups in vehicles, cramped together, to find new, small, temporary living spaces among many other inhabitants. Social distancing close to impossible, and PPE is all the more scarce. What would have been a normal hurricane season is transformed into a sizeable humanitarian risk.
After the severe consequences of the typhoon disasters, having the opportunity to raise money to help children in the Philippines would significantly benefit the Filipino community. Always looking for new members to help take the initiative on Filipino issues, PCSA extends an invitation to ML students to help put together these fundraisers by contacting their club secretary, Alyssa Canafe ‘22.
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