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| Sirak San Poli: A SNPOSA Batch 2006 Initiative |
Today is the 20th day since we launched Sirak SanPoli on Facebook. We've closed our donation drive five days ago and we gave our last food pack today. We have placed orders for medical supplies with our remaining funds and now we're consolidating all our data for our liquidation report. We will be concluding this endeavor soon.
It's bittersweet.
When Typhoon Ambo made its first landfall in our hometown and photos of houses blown away emerged online, I was terrified. We are used to strong typhoons, we are a coastal town facing the Pacific after all. It wasn't the first time, too, that a typhoon made landfall in our municipality. Hell, we even drank beer later in the afternoon when Urduja sashayed her way through our place in 2017. But not this time.
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| (Photo from Manila Bulletin) |
It was devastating. Our Governor even called the typhoon "Yolanda, Jr." in reference to the strongest Super Typhoon ever recorded that left more than 7,000 people dead.
My batchmates and I shared our fears in our group chat. Being away from our families, we were desperate to hear news from anyone back home. Whatever update we heard or found on Facebook we sent to our GC. We were shocked to see so many of our fellow San Polihanons left homeless, trees uprooted, power lines toppled down and government infrastructures destroyed. We've never seen that much damage in our municipality.
In the middle of our exchange of worries, I suggested that we start a relief operation. Not everyone was into it at first and I understood. All of our families were affected and needed help, not to mention the COVID crisis that has been going on for months. It would be hypocritical to go fixing our neighbor's house while our own needs major repair. So I added that we should tend to our relatives first and if we have extra resources maybe we can help. My friends in Metro Manila joined in and then the mood lightened. Soon we were discussing if we should create a Facebook page, what our group's name gonna be, how will we do it, who should we be in contact with, and what possible obstacles we might face in making this project happen. It was almost impulsive and impossible. When we made it public, I remember thinking negatively and doubting our own capabilities. "We are not going to raise enough funds." "We don't have any connections." "It's such an overwhelming task, we can't do it." But as days progressed, I was proven wrong and I couldn't be happier. I guess having the same goal which is to help our kababayans honestly and wholeheartedly, made everything easy. People saw our intentions and supported us. By the time we closed our donation drive, we've raised nearly ₱300,000 and as of yesterday, we've fed more than 600 household beneficiaries!
We have been thanking everyone for the past three weeks. Tonight, allow me to recognize everyone behind #SirakSanPoli.
Our team consists of two sub-groups: administration and operation. The Admin is composed of myself, Juliet, Ariane, and Mildred. We work behind the scenes and ensure the smooth flow of our fundraiser.
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In particular, Juliet handles accounting. She monitors all donations received, our cash flow, standing fund, etc. She balances our accounts and makes sure that all monies are duly accounted for. Every night she'd send an updated excel of all our transactions. Mid is in charge of budgeting. I'd give her the quotation from our suppliers then she'd come up with a breakdown of all the items that we need to purchase for a certain number of households. She also compiles our lists of donors, beneficiaries, and people to thank for such as our volunteers. If there are data that we need to compare to better understand the information, we'd ask her to tabulate it. Ariane usually manages our social media page. She posted our daily donation updates, replies to messages, and comments. She also recorded donations coming in to cross-check with Juliet's. She paid for ads so we could reach a wider audience. We circulated our publicity materials in social media and maintained our Facebook page to raise awareness of our situation.
The Operation team includes all our batchmates at home. They see to it that our objectives are effectively implemented. They decided what methodology to use in determining our beneficiaries and how our relief efforts will be conducted. They surveyed areas that they thought needed the most help, visited victims and interviewed them to make a better assessment. They literally climbed mountains, took photos, wrote down the information they gathered, and sent it to us.
We in the admin had a separate GC so we can talk and plan easier. One time we said we wish we were there to lend a hand. That somehow we can lessen the burdens of our batchmates at home. And you know, help in person. Iba pa rin ang actual na pagbibigay ng tulong. But I think they'd all agree when I say that we were right where we should be. I think that one of the biggest factors why our process worked was precisely because of our current setup. One team was focused on gathering funds, and another on the distribution of goods. We gave them free rein in choosing our beneficiaries and they let us manage our finances. While they were collecting data, we were dealing with donors and purchasing of goods. And when the goods were delivered, they repacked them into food packs and distributed to our beneficiaries. Hay, I'm so proud of our little group! A dream team, really.
Another thing that I'm proud of this undertaking was how the younger generation came through and showed us that they can step up when given a chance. I was amazed when I went through our donors' list and realized that most of them were from ages 30 and below. Our biggest donors were groups of young adults in Germany, Waray Empowerment Network and Civity. Teenagers sent us messages offering to volunteer. Friends gave us food in gratitude for our efforts. It was so heartwarming to see everyone come together to extend help. Personally, it made me feel hopeful. It was gratifying to see bayanihan spirit come alive, especially among our youth!
I stumbled upon this quote by Amit Ray a few days ago, it says, "when the sun of compassion arises darkness evaporates and the singing birds come from nowhere." I can't help but relate to this. Typhoon Ambo may have caused us suffering but we came back stronger because of selfless individuals who rose to the occasion and manifested this enormous love and compassion from all around the world.
This has been a truly fulfilling experience, definitely a summer to remember. I will forever cherish this memory. From the bottom of my heart, thank you all, very much! To God be the glory 🙏
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For more info, please visit our page: facebook.com/siraksanpoli
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