JEDDAH: Donations from the Filipino community in Jeddah have started to come in, according to Filcom leader Jauhari Usman. “Many of our fellow Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are contributing to help the victims of Typhoon Ondoy,” he said.
Usman said donations had been received from many groups and individuals. He said that La Parilla Restaurant was being used as a drop off point for relief goods. Other community organizations such as Friends of Jeddah Music Club are collecting donations from members and friends.
Filipinos in the Saudia compound have prepared more than 20 boxes of canned goods, used clothes and medicines. They said they were still receiving donations from different groups and concerned Filipinos inside their compound.
Meanwhile, more than 300 Filipino employees of El-Khereiji Corporation prepared nearly a thousand kilograms of goods and clothes. The Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah has announced that all relief goods should be sent to its new building at Umm Al-Qura Street in Rehab District.
The goods will be regularly picked up and brought to the Skyfreight Forwarders office where a van is waiting to carry them for shipment. As soon as the van is filled, it will be tagged as “relief goods” and will be shipped free by the consulate through Skyfreight Forwarders, directly to the Disaster Resource Operation, Monitoring and Information Center. All contributions to the shipment will be acknowledged by the consulate. Emy de Guzman, Skyfreight operations manager, said that “Skyfreight is more than willing to help in relief operations as it has always done in the past.”
In Riyadh, Carlito L. Astillero, president of the Partidong Pandaigdigang Pilipino-Riyadh, announced that relief items would be sent directly to PPP-Central in Manila for direct distribution to typhoon victims.
— With input from Rudolfo Estimo Jr. and Onie Espanto
