Can You Help

Father Dariusz, MIC, the new house superior, together with the Sisters of the Daughters of Divine Love are continuing co-working with the Social Action group which is part of our Archdiocese. Marians, from the funds that they have been receiving, have already sponsored 1,500 school children to get back to school and are systematically providing babies' powder milk for 500 infants up to one-year old as well as helping pregnant women at different locations. Of the 19 centres for the typhoon victims, most are located either on basketball pitches or patches of land where tents have been erected. Father Dariusz says that thousands of people still need help urgently, especially the most poor. The local government seems to be very slow, and there are no concrete plans at present to reallocate the typhoon victimes. The church, charitable organizations as well as people of good will seem to be providing constant help for these people.

Can you imagine yourself and your family living at a basketball court and sharing it with thousands of other people? Your washing facilities are the street where there is a temporary water outlet; there are a few portable cabins with toilet facilities. You are given plenty of uncooked rice but have no cooking pot or utensils, have nowhere to cook it, or utensils to eat the rice with and your daily diet is rice and sardines. These people have been doing this since the 17th of December!

The media has now forgotten about these people. We continue to ask for your help and support. The statistics to date say that 7,000 children need our help. Many young people had to stop their studies as they cannot pay for their tuition fees and the Marians are in the process of sponsoring two young people who have lost their parents in the typhoon as well as one young girl who survived miraculously. To sponsor a young man or woman it costs about $558 per year.

Another project the Social Action group at the Archdiocese has proposed is to buy work tools and bicycles. Marians would like to sponsor such a project, but we need your help. These people would like to go back and earn their living but have no tools or means.

Just to give you ideas:

• Weekly feeding of 500 babies - 30,000 pesos (approximately $697)
• Monthly expenditure - $2,788
• Sponsoring a young person's studies - approximately 12,000 pesos per semester x 2 semesters a year = $558.

If you would like to know more about how you can help or become a sponsor, please contact the Marians here in the Philippines, philippines@marian.org, attention: Sendong Help

Thank you and God bless,
Ela and the Marian Community

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Please read the story from the previous day. These photographs are from different areas where babies' milk was being distributed.

God bless,
Ela
On the 4th and 13th of January, the Marian Congregation, together with the Divine Mercy Foundation of Mindanao, organized help for the people affected by the typhoon.

The items given out were: pots and utensils, thermos flasks, 5-gallon water containers, blankets, slippers, as well as rosary beads and pictures of the Divine Mercy.

The Marians have been trying to help as much as they can, but with limited resources we are concentrating on helping the very young.