Help Filipino Communities Prepare for Disaster

Thank you so much for helping Filipino communities prepare for disaster.

As we explained in a previous project report we’ve made the sad but necessary decision to close down our charity, International Disaster Volunteers (IDV) in early 2023.

As part of this process we’re planning to close down this project here on GlobalGiving by Sunday 15 January. This is the final project report we’ll be sending before we do.

This is an emotional report to write as this project has been active for almost 10 years, and thanks to your amazing generosity we’ve been able to make an incredible impact through our local partner Buklod Tao.

For example, your donations have enabled us to complete the Banaba Livelihood and Evacuation Center and provide it with vital equipment, including a solar water purifier, a water tower and private cubicles so that families could safely seek shelter in the building during typhoons. 

Your kindness has also allowed the Center to act as a Community Kitchen providing thousands of hot meals over the years.

And your support has also enabled us to provide things like sewing machines so that community members can earn an income by manufacturing products like shopping bags and slippers for sale.

This is already a fantastic legacy and I’m delighted to say that since announcing our closure we’ve raised over $1,500 here on GlobalGiving to support Buklod’s Tao ongoing work after we close down. What’s more GlobalGiving has also awarded us an amazing $10,000 towards the same end.

It’s hard to express how genuinely grateful we are for this support. While we’re obviously sad to be closing down IDV, we’re heartened that Buklod Tao’s amazing efforts will continue. From the bottom of our hearts - thank you so much!

We also asked Buklod Tao’s President, Noli, if he had a message for you and here’s what he had to say:

“We here at Buklod Tao, Inc. wish to manifest our heartfelt "Salamat po"/Thank You to all our IDV friends and to GlobalGiving for the continuing support in the interest of community development initiatives in this part of the Philippines (island of Luzon, province of Rizal, town of San Mateo, village of Banaba).

Godspeed, IDV.

God's blessings to GlobalGiving.”

If you’d like to stay in touch with Buklod Tao after we close, and potentially even continue to support them, then please reach out to Noli using linobotak@gmail.com.

And if you would like to make one final donation via GlobalGiving, please do so now.

You can find out more about our plans to close down IDV on our website, and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email Andy@IDVolunteers.org. I’d be delighted to hear from you as always.

Thank you so much for helping Filipino communities prepare for disaster.

In a previous project report we explained how we’re raising funds this Holiday season to help improve and maintain the Banaba Livelihood & Evacuation Centre after our charity closes. We then shared the stories of Rheanna and Michelle to show how this vital Centre provides shelter and food for evacuees when disaster strikes. 

In this report we wanted to share the story of yet another Banaba resident who benefits from the Centre.

While less obvious, the Center also helps provide livelihood opportunities. This is critical in helping people to prepare for disaster because poverty and vulnerability are often closely linked.

Walter (pictured above) is forty-seven years old. Walter makes his living as a tricycle driver plying the routes of Brgy. Banaba. While his most common fare is passengers running errands or visiting friends, he is often paid to help people move things around the community.

Walter had this to say about the opportunities your generosity helped provide:

"I immediately earned early in the morning each time Buklod Tao community kitchen summoned me and my tricycle to haul the big cauldron of cooked hot meals for breakfast at the periphery of Barangay Banaba. And to boot, I received hot meals too for my children at home, courtesy of the community kitchen. Salamat Po! [Thank you!]".

We echo Walter’s thanks. Without your support, the building wouldn’t be equipped today to provide hot meals. Your donations have also enabled us to provide Buklod Tao with the funds to purchase the ingredients for the meals and to pay Walter for his services.

We know you’ve already given so much but we hope you’ll consider making a further gift to this project if you can. In doing so, you’ll help ensure that residents like Walter can earn vital income when they need it most.

You can find out more about our plans to close down IDV on our website, and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email Andy@IDVolunteers.org. I’d be delighted to hear from you as always.

In a previous project report we explained how we’re raising funds this Holiday season to help improve and maintain the Banaba Livelihood & Evacuation Centre after our charity closes. To show how vital the Centre is, we then shared the story of Rheanna who found safety in the Center during typhoons Rolly and Ulysses when she was just 6 months old.

In this report we wanted to share the story of another Banaba resident who’s relied on the Centre and your wider support, this time in the aftermath of storms.

As we explained in a previous report, the Centre also houses Buklod Tao’s “Community Kitchen”. The kitchen is run by local volunteers who cook hot nutritious meals for evacuees taking shelter in the building. These volunteers also go out into the wider community after typhoons and storms to provide meals to others struggling in the aftermath. 

For example, after Super Typhoon Karding struck in September of this year these volunteers provided well over 500 hot meals to local residents, using the “Community Kitchen” as their base of operations.

The supply of these meals is vital to poorer residents, who often struggle to survive even before disasters strike, and this was especially true during Covid, when many lost work due to lockdown.

Thirty-three year old Michelle (pictured above) is just one of those helped during these tough times. Michelle is a single parent residing in a small neighborhood in the Pangan Compound. She is still jobless due to the impacts of the pandemic, and hot meals from the Community Kitchen provided her a lifeline when she needed it most. Michelle had this to say about the support your generosity helped provide:

"Big thanks for all the assistance extended to me and my kids especially during the days of the pandemic. I recall being awakened by the summons of Buklod Tao community kitchen volunteers for the provision of hot breakfast meals for my two children".

We echo Michelle’s thanks. Without your amazing support the Centre wouldn’t be watertight today. Your generosity also helped to equip the building to provide hot meals, and have enabled us to provide Buklod Tao with funds to purchase the ingredients for the meals.

We know you’ve already given so much but we hope you’ll consider making a further gift to this project if you can. In doing so, you’ll help ensure that residents like Michelle and her children can receive hot meals when they need it most.

You can find out more about our plans to close down IDV on our website, and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email Andy@IDVolunteers.org. I’d be delighted to hear from you as always.

In our last project report we explained how we’re raising funds this Holiday season to help improve and maintain the Banaba Livelihood & Evacuation Centre after our charity closes. In this report, to illustrate once again just how important the Centre is, we wanted to highlight the story of residents who rely on this vital building.

Rheanna (pictured above) was just 6 months old when her family first had to seek shelter in the Evacuation Center. Rheanna lives with her mum Glenda and Glenda’s partner at Libis Riverside in Banaba, near Manila. Living close to a river mkaes them especially vulnerable to floods and this proved doubly true during the onslaught of two consecutive storms in quick succession - Rolly in November 2020, followed by Ulysses in December.

Glenda sought refuge at the Centre on both occasions, first arriving around 10pm at night during Rolly and then at 4am in the morning during Ulysses. Despite the hour the family was welcomed with open arms each time and provided with a safe place to ride out the fierce winds, rain and flood waters. They also received hot, nutritious meals during their stay.

Glenda had this to say about the help she received from our partner Buklod Tao:

“We are thankful to Buklod Tao for their kindheartedness - they helped us to have shelter and be safe during the time of calamities and they did not abandon us, especially on the matter of food provision, thank you so much. Despite our arrival deep in the night they opened the door of the evacuation shelter... and we were kept away from harm, especially our baby girl Rheanna”.

We truly echo Glenda thanks. Without your amazing support the Centre wouldn’t be watertight today and baby Rheanna’s fate may have been very different as a result. Your generosity also helped to equip the building and to provide hot meals!

We know money is tight right now but we hope you’ll consider making a further gift to this project if you can. In doing so, you’ll help ensure that residents like Rheanna can be kept safe when the next flood inevitably strikes.

You can find out more about our plans to close down IDV on our website, and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email Andy@IDVolunteers.org. I’d be delighted to hear from you as always.

It’s hard to believe that it’s now almost 10 years since we first launched this project on GlobalGiving! Since then your incredible generosity has helped the many communities that make up Banaba prepare for disaster in so many ways.

In our last report for example we described how our amazing partner Buklod Tao had sprung into action to provide hot meals after typhoon Karding. While these meals were provided in response to a disaster, this was only possible because of your previous support in completing the Banaba Livelihood and Evacuation Center, where the local “Community Kitchen” volunteers are based.

As well as helping to make the Center watertight, your generosity has enabled us to provide it with other vital equipment, including a solar water purifier, a water tower and private cubicles so that families could safely seek shelter in the building during typhoons. The building’s function as an Evacuation Center proved vital in late 2020 when typhoon Ulysses struck. 

And while less obvious, the Center’s role in providing Livelihood opportunities is also vital, because poverty and vulnerability are often closely linked.

That’s why, again thanks to your fantastic support, we’ve provided Buklod Tao with things like sewing machines so that community members can manufacture products like shopping bags and slippers for sale.

The practical support your donations have helped to provide to vulnerable families is beyond question, and we’re now hoping you’ll consider supporting this project one last time.

This is because we’ve recently made the sad but necessary decision to close down our charity, International Disaster Volunteers (IDV) in early 2023. This is because we’ve been entirely run by volunteers for over 5 years, and this is now becoming unsustainable.

However, Buklod Tao’s incredible work will continue and we’re aiming to raise as much as we can to support their efforts over the Christmas and wider Holiday season.

Donations received during this period, along with that already in hand with us, will be used to either make further improvements to the Banaba Livelihood and Evacuation Centre, or to support Buklod Tao’s general project and operational costs moving forward.

So, although IDV will no longer be directly involved after the next few months, this is our chance to help create a lasting legacy in Banaba. We know money is tight for everyone right now, but if you can please consider making a gift this #GivingTuesday.

You can find out more about our plans to close down IDV on our website, and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email Andy@IDVolunteers.org. I’d be delighted to hear from you as always.