When typhoon Haiyan surged through the Philippines Nov. 7 it did so with menacing intensity, leaving behind a devastated country coping with an estimated 3,000–4,000 people dead and close to two million homeless.
Although she’s been in Jasper for years, Caly Tayanes was born in the Philippines. She said the country is used to typhoons, so leading up to the storm people weren’t overly concerned.
It wasn’t until the storm surge leveled villages up and down the coast that people realized this one was different.
Tayanes remembers eating in front of her computer when her sister posted a video on Facebook showing the storm’s devastating aftermath.
She watched the horrible images flash across her screen. One woman cried that her family was starving, and hadn’t eaten in four days.
Tayanes was horrified. She looked at the fork full of food dangling inches from her mouth and something clicked; she decided she needed to do something immediately.
“I felt so bad, and I feel so helpless,” she said.
She thought about her beloved collection of 140 pairs of shoes, then went to the Jasper Buy, Sell and Trade Facebook page and put them all up for sale, pledging to donate all of the proceeds to relief efforts in her home country.
“It’s so hard for me, I have that impulse and I have that personality where I want to keep everything,” she said, explaining that she had tried and failed many times to cull her collection. But thinking about the devastation that had swept across her country steeled her motivation.
She remembered two years ago when a different typhoon hit her home village. She was so scared for her family and friends, and felt powerless from the other side of the world.
She didn’t want anyone to have to experience that feeling.
“This is my motivation, this is my drive,” she said.
Tayanes is one small part of the massive fundraising effort by Jasper’s Filipino community.
Clara Adriano was born in the Philippines and came to Jasper six years ago. She and several members of Jasper’s Filipino community are organizing a series of fundraisers to support typhoon victims.
Adriano vividly remembers watching the first news reports of the typhoon’s damage.
“Oh, I was heartbroken. I was, like, in tears,” she said with wide eyes, shaking her head.
“I couldn’t even watch the news at a certain point because it was too heartbreaking. I could see houses,” she paused as her voice trailed off, “you know, people were dying, people were starving, it was just heartbreaking to watch.
“If you see the pictures, it’s just swept away. The houses are just gone. Like gone, completely gone; from this beautiful town to ... houses that are just destroyed.
“I couldn’t help my tears from falling,” she said.
Although devastated, Adriano took her grief and channeled it into something proactive, contacting her friends and getting the fundraising ball rolling.
Along with a bake sale at the JPL staff cafeteria on Nov. 22, the group is seeking a permit to run a bottle drive on Nov. 25.
They’ve also organized a benefit concert on Dec. 6 and a huge pre-Christmas Filipino bazaar on Dec. 7 and 8, where they will sell Filipino food, clothes and toys.
They’ve also put donation boxes at several Jasper businesses. Most of the money they raise will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross, but some will go to the Catholic Church, which will send it to the head of the church in the Philippines.
“This calamity is just so heartbreaking for us,” Adriano said. “For us, who are very, very far away, this is the best we can do.”
That feeling of distance and helplessness is palpable in Jasper’s Filipino community.
Nearly everyone has friends or family who have felt the typhoon’s effects.
“For me, I’m so far away from back home. So, like, what can I do? What can I do?” Tayanes said, her voice trailing off.
Adriano explained how Filipinos are constantly contacting her and offering donations of food, clothes or things to sell to raise money.
“These are just regular people, probably living paycheck to paycheck,” she said. The fact that they are willing to give what they can is extremely heartwarming.
Carra Cruz agreed. She’s organizing the bake sale and bottle drive fundraisers, and said she’s been touched by how generous both individuals and businesses have been, supporting her and her community’s fundraising efforts at every turn.
“It’s just overwhelming, and it’s just inspiring everyone to do more,” she said.
Cruz works two jobs, and said she can hardly find time to pull everything together. But seeing the outpouring of support keeps her going.
“Even if I’m tired, even if I stay late at night, it’s all good because I know it’s worth it because everyone is helping out, and everyone is supportive,” she said.
Adriano is also touched by the support. She said that she hopes Jasper’s contribution ultimately helps Filipinos move on and get back to their lives.
“To my fellow Filipino victims, just keep your faith, and be strong. God will never forsake them,” said Adriano.
“We will rise again, the Philippines will rise again.”
