News Release

TV 5, LDS Charities Donate School Kits to Children in Sendong Resettlement Areas

On December 16 when people were fast asleep,  typhoon Sendong unleashed its fury and left families in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and other parts of Mindanao without food, shelter and even family members. What it didn't take from them was hope.

Recently, LDS Charities together with TV 5 Alagang Kapatid Foundation distributed school kits to children in Cagayan de Oro’s Sendong resettlement areas helping to keep that hope for rebuilding a better life alive.  Menchie Silvestre, Executive Director of Alagang Kapatid Foundation, said, "It is our hope that Alagang Kapatid Foundation’s continuing relief assistance to Sendong affected families will further aid in regaining the families' positive stance in life.  With the generous heart of institutions such as the Latter-day Saint Charities, we are able to pursue this dream!"

Likewise, with the aid of Mormon Helping Hands volunteers, the school kits were assembled and handed out to families at the Macasandig, Tibasak, Buena Oro and Nazareth evacuation centers as well as to the Amakan I temporary shelter.  A total of 326 school kits containing notebooks, raincoats, shoes/slippers, pencils and TV 5 whistle ballpens for emergencies were given to the children.

Undersecretary Benito Ramos, chairman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said that of the 1200 people that died, 650 were from Cagayan de Oro City and an additional 283 were from Iligan City. A majority of the fatalities were caused by flashfloods that swept through Cagayan de Oro and Iligan on that fateful Friday night in December.

Fatalities were recorded in others parts of Mindanao and Visayas, including Camarines Sur, Negros Oriental, Bukidnon, Cebu, Zamboanga del Norte, Compostela Valley, Surigao del Sur and Lanao del Sur.

Marlyn, a resident who was displaced by the storm has learned to overcome her loss and is trying to earn a modest living by selling coconut juice.  “Life has to go on. We must have hope, move on, and not be stuck in this unpleasant situation,” she said. 

Four days after the destructive typhoon shattered the dreams and stole the lives of many Filipinos, a rainbow appeared in Cagayan de Oro City, one of the worst affected cities in the aftermath of the flood. One person was heard to say, "There is always a rainbow after a storm.  The sun's light gives relief to us and we have hope."

More school kits will be distributed in Zamboanga, Sulu and Taw-Tawi by July 30, 2012.  

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