This rainy season, help share blankets and arroz caldo

During rainy weather, some of us are lucky to be able to wrap ourselves in blankets and keep warm with a mug of steaming soup. But there are others who are stranded, or stuck in evacuation centers. 

 

Floods are bad news. But times like these are an opportunity to help others by sharing our supplies, like food and clothing. 

 

Apart from helping others, this also gives you the chance to clean out your closet. Clothes that no longer fit or haven't been wearable for years can still be put to good use.

 

"I don't give my clothes away until rains like this happen. I feel like it's better than the clothes ending up in ukay-ukay or something," says Dylan Ventura, a Baguio resident.

 

Volunteer Jasmine Urquico said the donations being brought to the University of the Philippines in Diliman included ball gowns, dresses, shawls, net cover-ups, sarongs, knee supporters for layers, figurines, a g-string, a Christmas table mantle, floor mats, an arm guard, suspenders for male dancers, lace underwear, a bible, used crayons, chocolate, fresh milk, Baguio butter oats, cooking oil, soy sauce, instant milk cereal, adult diapers, a furry black jacket, stockings, shower cap, ball pens, the top of a baro't saya, apron, transparent tops, a suit jacket, a baby swim suit, and baked beans.

 

It may seem that some of the donated clothes may not be very useful, but while gathering clothes to donate, don't discard items with holes or missing buttons. Instead, you can bring them to Briggy Hall in Kapitolyo, Pasig, where volunteer Joyce Fong will be sewing blankets using unwearable clothes.   

"The kind that are not being accepted by organizations. Sayang kasi. We know that people need blankets also," said Briggy Hall's Ivanna Aguiling, whose friend, Joyce Fong messaged her on Facebook asking her to help gather unwearable clothes. Fong, a photography enthusiast, is a fresh graduate from Massachussetts Institute of Technology, and is just here on vacation, according to Aguiling.

 

She said they are also asking people at the University of Asia and the Pacific for help. "They have a drive there. If they get garments that are not usable, we'll bring them to Briggy Hall. Joyce will bring them home and sew them, then back to Briggy Hall, then back to the relief center," she said.

 

Aguiling said they also need people to help cut the unwearable garments in Briggy Hall, which is a community cafe for start up entrepreneurs. "We're trying to get people to help. Right now we're still gathering garments," she said. 

 

"Apart from food, blankets and old or unused clothes are helpful donations, given that the clothing of many people were soaked in floodwater," says Wrap Battle's Paul Wenceslao, one of Briggy Hall's entrepreneurs.

 

Hot arroz caldo

 

Meanwhile, a group of friends has revived Brgy. Soup Kitchen, which accepts ingredient donations for arroz caldo. 

 

"Ping Medina's BRGY SOUP KITCHEN, which served thousands during Ondoy, will make the rounds to feed people displaced by the floods. You can donate any amount or ingredients to cook arroz caldo, a hot and filling meal evacuees will be grateful for as they wait for the heavy rains to abate and they can return home," Oxfam Philippines said on its Facebook page.  

Chopped whole chicken, sticky and regular rice, large eggs, patis, and ginger can be dropped off at PenPen Restaurant in Cubao X. "We need LARGE POTS & industrial (mobile) burners as we will be cooking onsite. Pickup trucks for transportation are also welcome," said PenPen owner Ping Medina on the Brgy Soup Kitchen Facebook page.   

"Back in Ondoy 2009, I asked Abba never to let me go through the trauma of soup kitchen again. But I knew in my heart there were other plans," Medina said on his Twitter account. –KG, GMA News

 

To contact Briggy Hall, visit their Facebook page or get in touch with Ivanna Aguiling at 09173819695. 

 

To contact Brgy Soup Kitchen, visit their Facebook page.