Jade Duran

Community

April 17, 2020

COVID-19: PH Organizations and their Initiatives and how YOU can help

Photo by Krisia Vinzon from Pexels

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With the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak plunging the world into a crisis, the Philippines, as well as other countries, are doing their part to help their countrymen to get through this pandemic until the curve has successfully been flattened.

No one is spared from the effects of this global outbreak. Health workers, businesses, employees, celebrities, politicians, no matter what your line of work may be, we are all struggling to get by and survive this pandemic.

Some, more fortunate than others, and there is only so much the Philippine government can do to help its people during these hard times.

Fortunately, in every crisis, there is hope and inspiration as individuals and their organizations do their part to help their respective communities through this crisis.

Below is a list of organizations and their initiatives on how they help the community during the COVID-19 outbreak:

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TalkintechPH: Free Business Advice

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Amidst this crisis, not only is the Philippine economy being affected, businesses, employees and other stakeholders of the workforce are left with no jobs and little to no income at all.

TalkinTechPH is a startup founded by Jade Duran whose goal is to help the business community become aware of how technology can help improve their business.

“During these troubled times, it can become very difficult to run a business especially ones that sell physical goods and services to consumers. My priority right now isn’t just to make sure my company gets through this crisis, but to help other businesses as well. We would love to reach out to any entrepreneurs who are seeking advice on how to get their business online for free; so that we can all get through this together.”

-Jade Edward Gejon Duran, Founder of TalkinTechPH

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To know more about how you can get your business online, contact TalkinTechPH through their Facebook page here, to schedule a call with them on how they can help you out.

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Project Kalibo

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Project KALIBO is an initiative started by concerned locals of Kalibo, Aklan whose aim is to provide essential goods and resources for their Frontliners currently helping their community combat the COVID-19 virus.

With their “Sanggatos para sa Sangka Bayani Campaign,” for every P100 donated, a Frontliner will receive relief goods in the form of meals, improvised face-shields, tailor-made face masks, disinfectants (alcohol, hand sanitizers, soap), and other essentials their Frontliners may need.‍

“On the evening of March 18, 2020, Maranatha Vargas, Mary Lou Salido, and yours truly, were brainstorming on how we could help our Kalibonhon Frontliners during this challenging time. We’d like to create a project that is authentically Kalibo, and through this, Project KALIBO was born.

It officially launched the next day and we have promised that our mission will continue as long as the Enhanced Community Quarantine is still there. As time goes by, Project KALIBO became bigger and bigger. More fellow Kalibonhons have shown their generosity and love for our Frontliners by donating cash and in-kind, more volunteers have shown support to the core team.

There are also tendencies that we get to provide meals five to seven times a week, and even launch different campaigns to help the other sectors of the community.”

-John Marlou Salido, Proponent of Project Kalibo

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To know more about how you can help or donate to Project Kalibo and Kalibo’s Frontliners, visit their Facebook Page here.

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The Rice Movement

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A charity initiative from Cebu City, The Rice Movement aims to raise P600,000 to be able to provide a month's supply of rice for 240 families or 1,200 individuals whose breadwinners and family members with jobs can not go to work due to the Enhanced Community Quarantine implemented by the government to control the spread of COVID-19.

From the time of publishing this article, they have raised P234,052.05 from donors not only from the Philippines but also from generous individuals from other parts of the globe.

“Our team of volunteers in the community initially worked on a project that aimed to match hospitals needing protective supplies with groups/individuals who were donating these supplies. When we realized that there have been more and more initiatives geared to help out with this cause (which we are very thankful for), we started to think of what other aspects of this health crisis could we be of help.

That's when we thought of the Filipinos who lost their jobs since their employers have paused or limited operations due to this health crisis. Since we had little data about this, we decided to conduct a survey for these workers so we can assess the problem from actual experiences of the workers themselves.

When we received the responses, that's when we realized just how intense this was and how this is becoming a life-threatening challenge to these families who used to only have those jobs as their source of income. So we came up with the idea, The Rice Movement.

As these families will have to stay at home and can't do work at the same time, we are raising funds from the community to buy rice and deliver to these households to sustain them for the coming weeks until this ends and they get their jobs back.”

-Rachel Lenli Tuhoy, Proponent of The Rice Movement

To know more about how you can help or donate to The Rice Movement and the families in need of dire help, visit their Facebook Page here.

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Creative Initiative for PH Frontliners

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Started by a group of designers from the Digital Art community of Cebu City, the artists of Creative Initiative for PH Frontliners offer their talents to create digital illustrations of photos submitted by donors for only P100.

With the money they have raised from donors, they were able to assist beneficiaries like Fablab UP Cebu, and Cebu Backliners on their campaigns on assisting their community’s Frontliners in any way they can.

"The idea just really flashed in the mind. But maybe it was because we are aware that our Frontliners really need help. So, we just do what we do best to help. Create art."

-Lyle Tanciano, Lead of Creative Initiative for PH Frontliners

To know more about how you can help or donate to Creative Initiative for PH Frontliners and their community’s Frontliners, visit their Facebook Page here.

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Padayon Kita Volunteer Group

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A volunteer group from Iloilo City, that acts to be the alliance between government and non-government agencies that aspire to develop the youth and the community through various initiatives with the help of its volunteers and social media.

With a strong foundation in their community, the volunteer group was able to collect donations and other relief goods from different organizations and individuals of Iloilo City to be distributed the city’s Frontliners and other members of the community that lack the right protective equipment and supplies. On the 30th of March, they have distributed improvised PPEs to the Iloilo City Hall at the Mayor’s Office to be used by our Frontliners. They also distributed PPEs to barangays to help barangay officials have better protection while patrolling their respective communities.

“I was scrolling down on Facebook, and I read the news that the Mayor had declared an Enhanced Community Quarantine upon Iloilo City. I found it boring because I can’t go out and do my usual hobbies. I decided to have a talk with my friends and asked them, what if we take action and help our Frontliners? In this way, we can have a purpose by helping them produce PPEs. We decided to create a volunteer group named PADAYON KITA. I chose this name to encourage everyone that whatever happens, we can survive this crisis.

We started this group without funds and only our plans and goals: To help our Frontliners and the Community. We asked donations through social media and some of our friends personally. We had a hard time collecting some donations because of the Community Quarantine. We decided to use our personal money to buy the materials that we needed. But God knows our struggles and purpose. He blessed us by sending donors who helped us produce improvised face masks and face shields.

Don’t hesitate to help because a small thing can cause a big impact to our Frontliners. If we can, you can as well. "PADAYON KITA SA PAGBINULIGAY" to fight this pandemic.”

- Russnie Ron Flores, Founder of Padayon Kita Volunteer Group

To know more about how you can help or donate to Padayon Kita Volunteer Group and the communities they are helping, visit their Facebook Page here.

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SOF Bayanihan

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SOF Bayanihan is an initiative started by the Iloilo National Highschool - School of the Future Alumni from Iloilo City. Their campaign is a donation drive to help provide additional Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), for their Frontliners in various hospitals in the city and province of Iloilo. They gather donations of different amounts from various batches of alumni of their school such as alumni batches 1998, and 2007 to 2015.

They have currently gathered a total of P151,705 from their alumni community to help procure PPEs and other essential equipment needed by their Frontliners.

"One batch of alumni of Iloilo National High School - School of the Future (SOF) Department started the initiative to raise funds for our Frontliners. The support was massive and overwhelming that a couple of people from this batch suggested reaching out to other batches for they might want to be part of a bigger cause. With the help of social media, 14 batches were connected then SOF Bayanihan was formed.

To date, we have reached out to Batches from 1998, 2007 to 2015. SOF Bayanihan is not only supported by SOF alumni but also the former and current members of SOF faculty and non-SOF alumni. The initiative started from a number of alumni but now we have created a community that aims to help and protect our Frontliners."

-Nikka Mharie Parcon, Founder of SOF Bayanihan

To know more about how you can help or donate to SOF Bayanihan and the Frontliners of their community, visit their Facebook Page here.

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What can YOU do to help

The organizations and their initiatives mentioned above are just a few of the many groups and individuals out there in the Philippines helping their communities and Frontliners during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It doesn’t take much to help your Frontliners, community, and country get one step closer into flattening the curve. Stay at home; only go out when necessary, wash your hands regularly, immediately report individuals displaying symptoms of the virus to the right officials, donate whatever essentials you can to your community for they need it as much as you do.

We will all get through this together. I would like to thank everyone who is doing their part to help flatten the curve especially the Frontliners, individuals and organizations with their initiatives, and YOU dear reader. For staying at home and reading this blog post.

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