The social platform NextDayBetter is calling on Filipinos to participate in a contest seeking innovative life-saving solutions in the 72 crucial hours after a disaster. In such circumstances, children are the most vulnerable. The project known as “Global Innovation Challenge: First 72 Hours” is jointly organized by UNICEF and Socialab. NextDayBetter is helping to promote […]
By Cristina DC Pastor To understand Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and how it would benefit an undocumented immigrant, advocates told the story of a Visayan housekeeper working in the Upper Westside. “Carol” has been employed for 15 years as a domestic helper. Although undocumented, she was able to save enough to give her family in […]
By Audrey Enriquez What started as a simple request for friends to donate old towels, blankets, and bed sheets to be taken to the Philippines over Christmas, quickly turned into a staggering collection of 67 balikbayan boxes. The Monday following Typhoon Yolanda’s devastating sweep of the southern Philippines, members of the Dwight School community checked […]
Make a generous donation but beware of scams and bogus solicitations. More important: Practice due diligence to make sure that your donations are making a real and direct impact on the devastated lives of the victims of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in the Philippines. When the Super Typhoon swept through the Visayas, it destroyed billions worth […]
By Cristina DC Pastor Jackie Aguilos Duerr from Kinnelon, New Jersey came to a fundraiser organized by Filipino American novelists, poets and journalists. She left the event feeling upbeat rather than downhearted. ‘Kaya natin: We can do this’ was a fundraiser like no other. Discarding the traditional moment of silence in remembering the dead, the […]
By Renee Rises On Sunday, November 10th I sat quietly as news reports flashed images of the Filipinos in Tacloban City. “Haiyan,” “Yolanda,” “Typhoon,” “10,000,” “washed up bodies,” “looters may be shot,” “I will shoot if they step foot on my property,” “families are still searching,” and other words repetitively popped in my mind and […]
By Cristina DC Pastor A calamity, especially one as forceful as category 5 Typhoon Haiyan, has the capacity to trigger Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among survivors, according to Dr. Kevin Nadal, associate professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Nadal, who also trains NYPD officers working with people suffering from mental illness, said […]
Too many of them, all fundraisers to benefit the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. One’s calendar must be filling up fast with benefit dinners, concerts, fashion shows, silent auctions, comedy hours, sorting and packing parties and other forms of community gatherings whose proceeds are meant to benefit people from the Visayas. We have […]
By Cristina DC Pastor The morning after Typhoon Haiyan mauled the Philippines’ Visayan islands with unmatched fury, three well-scrubbed suburban boys from Cranford, New Jersey sprang into action. “I asked Ryan if he wants to help. He’s my best friend, he lives on my street,” said Josh Furer, 12, a seventh-grader at Hillside Avenue School. […]