Quezon City (Philippines). The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and the Volunteers of the Laura Vicuña Foundation (LVF), the Center for the promotion of children in Quezon City (Philippines) – Province of St. Mary Domenica Mazzarello (FIL) – activated relief efforts and solidarity initiatives to support the populations affected by the typhoons that hit the Philippines from October to mid-November 2020.
Typhoon Ulysses hit the Quezon City area, causing destruction, as evidenced by the messages sent to the Foundation: “Typhoon Ulysses took us by surprise. Our villages are a single mass of water, the houses are submerged up to the roofs. We were rescued and taken to schools. We have no food, no dry clothes. Pray for us to Mary Help of Christians”.
The Laura Vicuña Foundation has taken action to respond to the various requests for help. The volunteers and the girls prepared more than 400 kilos of rice, clothes, and hygiene kits. Other volunteers joined and visited families along the rivers. The FMA cooked more than 300 hot meals and prepared packages with fruit juices, clothes, vitamins, and school materials for the children of the most affected areas.
Solidarity initiatives have multiplied: Past pupils and supporters of LVF have donated 600 packages of food with canned foods, coffee, chocolate, cookies, and candies. More than 5,000 kilos of rice were distributed to 1,000 families in the Marikina communities: Tumana, Nangka, Bayabas, Camachile.
The families expressed their gratitude for the closeness and care on the part of the FMA of the Foundation and of the staff, who visited and accompanied them regularly. More than 2,000 packages of food and nearly 6,000 kilos of rice were delivered during the month of November, as well as hygiene kits, clothes, medicines, school supplies, brought every week by LVF to the local Child Protection Communities of the area.
Despite the restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Laura Vicuña Foundation has been able to regularly support children, young people, and families through online training meetings and the distribution of food.
The Laura Vicuña Foundation, was born in 1990 to accompany children at risk with education and integral development through the collaboration of the FMA with professionals in the legislative field, in Social Assistance, and with the parish community. The Foundation aims to strengthen children’s confidence in themselves, in others, and in society. It ensures the continuity and convergence of educational and development interventions to enable them to become honest and self-sufficient citizens.
