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CALIFORNIA, United States?By ?Happy,? I mean Happy Vergara, although this is not just about him. This is also about his wife Clarissa David and her sister Monica, who came up with a simple, yet effective way for FilAms and other expats to help in the Ondoy relief effort.
For, to be sure, many FilAms want to help. The problem is, even as many of them are moved to tears by the pictures and footage of Typhoon Ondoy?s victims and devastating effects, many are still at a loss on how to reach out, how to really make a difference.
Many want to send money, but they don?t really know much about many of the groups soliciting funds and donations. And there have been horror stories in the past, of course. Of scams. Of money going to groups that don?t know what they?re doing, or are simply bad at what they do, or who end up using donations mainly for overhead expenses, including perhaps that ?staff development? retreat in Tagaytay.
So Happy, Marissa, and Monica came up with a system. It was geared mainly to their Facebook friends. They set up a PayPal account to which people could donate money. They then used the funds to buy groceries, which they then took to the typhoon relief center at the Ateneo.
So how do they show their donor friends that the money they sent is really helping the typhoon victims? How else in the age of Facebook? They posted photos and videos.
There?s one photo of the trio at the supermarket, and another one of them transporting the groceries to the relief center, and yet another one of the grocery receipts and their list of donors, etc, etc.
I found out about the Happy group through my friend Jane Po, a fellow Bay Area expat. She found out about it from Happy?s brother, who is called (I kid you not) Sunny Vergara. Actually, Sunny is another Bay Area expat, and is also respected academic and author. (They?re the sons of national scientist Benito Vergara.)
Sunny recently gave a detailed blow-by-blow of the Happy trio?s fundraising initiative on Facebook.
?They've raised enough money to make a second run to the supermarket this afternoon (9/28 Manila time) and will keep returning to the supermarket to buy canned goods as long as the donations keep coming in,? he wrote. ?But we know that won't be enough?some people are still stranded on the roofs of their houses, the flood waters aren't all receding yet, and thousands of people are still displaced from their homes (or what's left of them).?
An update later that day reads, ?And once again, the Facebook posse has come through: my brother woke up this morning to find over $790 more in funds, bringing the total up to $3,031 in 24 hours! He'll be making a third run to the supermarket and the pharmacy today (vitamins and rehydration salts are what is needed right now).?
The project may be small scale, but it makes effective use of the Web?s speed and, in the age of Facebook, its ability to create dynamic, engaging personal networks.
?Wala nang pakamut kamot pa ng ulo, kabutihan agad ang inisip?You don?t have to scratch your head to figure it out. Doing good is the main goal,? Jane Po said.
And she said Team Happy also embraced an important element: Accountability.
?That?s one of the fears of many expats and hyphenated Pinoys,? she added. ?They don?t know many of the players, except the Red Cross. Many of them don?t even know Oxfam. This means there are issues of trust and accountability. To whom do they send help? Will it get there and will it be used properly??
?Alam mo naman na sanay silang niloloko sa lupang pinanggalingan?They?re so used to being deceived,? she added.
Another good thing about the Happy initiative is it can be replicated in other networks, even those beyond Facebook. It can also help change the traditional Filipino view of philanthropy, which is still seen as being mainly the purview of the filthy rich.
Jane Po ran into this during her years as an AIDS activist in the Bay Area in the 1990s. Many in the FilAm community, she said, were not keen on the idea of volunteerism and philanthropy. ?Kung minsan tingin nila, mayayaman lang ang dapat magbigay?They think only the rich should donate. And they equate donations with limpak-limpak na salapi?with huge amounts of money.?
But that?s changing. The Web?social networking sites in particular?has demonstrated the power of scale. You may give just $1, but in a network of thousands, or even tens of thousands, that?s a fortune.
Jane also said Filipinos are ?gradually learning by examples in other countries, the truth in the old saying na ang sakit ng kalingkingan ay sakit ng katawan. A pain in the pinky finger is felt by the whole body.?
And this evident in the FilAm reaction to the tragedy in Manila.
There are fundraisers all over the country sponsored by FilAm groups. I recently got a call from FilAm students at UC Berkeley who want to join the relief campaign. Journalist and theater artist Wilma Consul is rallying support in the Washington DC area by organizing ?a night of performance? for the typhoon victims.
Jane Po said she heard of a group who approached Filipino-owned businesses about joining the relief effort. A friend of hers has a group who pooled their money together to buy medicine. ?They?re taking it to the Philippines tomorrow. One of them paid for the plane fare.?
Meanwhile, Happy, Clarissa, and Monica are pushing forward with their own relief effort.
?The total is now $4,700 in 48 hours from Facebook?thanks again!? Sunny Vergara?s update for September 29 read. ?Clarissa and Monica are out buying groceries again; we'll keep you folks updated!?
