It's been over a week since our clean-up operations at Provident Village. My back is still sunburned, and the skin is starting to peel! But let me start at the beginning.

Paul and I were able to lead a team of volunteers to attempt cleanup on Friday, 2 October. It was quite the learning experience, and though I felt rather down about it, Paul was convinced that it had been a good day for assessing the damage and figuring out what to do.

It really helps to know people in all sorts of places. I write for several print and web publications, and one of them is a web magazine called WMN.ph.

After all the relief and fundraising operations the week after Ondoy, I was finally able to get back to work, writing articles and finally meeting my various deadlines. God bless lenient editors who give extensions on deadlines!

Thanks to your help, donations to the Philippine Outpost's relief efforts have reached Php 100,000! That's US$ 2,147!

With these cash donations, and donations of clothes, food and medicine, we have been able to help so many people:

Thanks to an anonymous donation, in one day we were able to reach our target of Php45,000 (US$962)! Thank you so much to everyone who sent money, spread the word and offered to help!
 
Now that we have the funds, we can plan for the distribution of the school supplies. This will be on Saturday, October 17. Please stay tuned for further details, like assembly time, rendezvous point, etc.
 
TC-1330 and TB-1870 will be in costume, to bring some amusement to the kids in addition to the school supplies. 
 

365 students from the Eastern Star Academy of San Mateo, Rizal, lost everything in the flood. Typhoon Ondoy took their books, their bags, their notebooks.

How can they go back to school with nothing?

It only takes Php120 or US$2.60 to sponsor one child's school supplies.

We need to raise Php45,000 or US$962 to help all 365 children.

Will you help us help them? helpbbbs (at) gmail (dot) com

One week after the devastating Typhoon Ondoy(Ketsana) hit Manila, we rallied volunteers to Provident Village, Marikina, to help clean up the mud and debris.
more photos of the cleanup operations here

Since Typhoon Pepeng seems to have left Metro Manila with relatively little damage, cleanup operations in Provident Village will proceed tomorrow!
 
Assembly: 9:00 AM
When: Sunday, October 4
Where: Gate of Provident Village, in front of Tammy's Bake Shop, first corner on the right.
 
Provident Village is on A. Bonifacio Ave. in Marikina.
 
The Plan:
We'll be there before 9, so there's time to gather the volunteers and brief them.
 

Using some money from the donations we received, we bought some equipment for clean-up operations: 4 shovels, 4 pairs of rubber boots (one in my size, yay!), face masks, rubber gloves, alcohol. Oneal also got tongs, basins and buckets, to make picking up and moving the debris easier.
 
We agreed with Mr. Butch Solomon that we would meet at the gate of Provident Village at noon. Ryan picked up me and Paul at Yale to help us haul the equipment. He would have volunteered too, but he had flu-like symptoms coming on, and didn't want to be a liability.
 

Please, rest assured, we are putting your donations to good use! To track the donations that have come in, and the money we have spent on relief operations, we have created a Google Document listing all donors, amounts, and expenditures. We will also scan all receipts and post the scans online, so you can see what relief goods we have purchased and distributed.