LA orgs team up to provide relief for 'Ondoy' victims

Four major Los Angeles-based Filipino organizations have joined together to collect donations for typhoon victims in the Philippines.

The Search to Involve Pilipino Americans or SIPA, Gabriela Network, Alliance –Philippines and People’s Core pooled their resources to help flood victims back home.

In just 1 day, they were able to collect over 2,000 pounds of clothing, food and medical supplies for kababayans in the Philippines.

"Sometimes we have different political views but if there's one thing we could agree upon, it's that right now our neighborhood can come together to support our families back home," said John Eric Concordia of Alliance-Philippines.

The groups secured assistance from their regular contacts in the Philippines, as well as the Manny Pacquiao Foundation to ensure donations are immediately handed to people needing help.

"Gabnet's part in it was really to raise donations, relief goods especially targeted towards women and children. So, infant formula, diapers," said Annalisa Enrile of Gabnet-LA.

The groups also strategize how to work through the Philippine government's strict guidelines regarding donations.

"What we are doing is people to people, meaning we are not even going through major organizations. We are going through trusted personages, and in our case, we are going through [Gabriela partylist] Rep. Liza Maza's office," Enrile added.

For 1 week, generous Filipino Americans from Historic Filipinotown and other cities dropped off donations and money through their organizations.

"Our kababayans need help. So, what happened was, we have people from Orange County, from the Valley, from the inland empire coming to SIPA to say ‘I just want to contribute',” said Joel Jacinto of SIPA.

"We are extending this drive for 2 months because of the coming typhoons, and because of the ineptitude and neglect of the Philippine government, we are expanding this drive," People’s Core Arturo Garcia said.

The community-based organizations said they plan to document the distribution of the relief goods so that donors can see where their hard-earned money went to.