Phuket Filipinos rally for typhoon relief

PHUKET: The Filipino community in Phuket will stage a fundraising event this Sunday to collect donations and raise much-needed cash to support victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the central Philippines last week.

The event will be held at the Basketball Gymnasium at Saphan Hin (map here), where hundreds of Filipinos working and living in Phuket congregate each week to play and watch basketball, one of the major sports that unites Filipinos around the world.

“Each week about 200 players and supporters from Phuket’s Filipino community come to the basketball court at Sahan Hin. This week, we expect many more,” May Ann Cambonga, a teacher at Kajornkietsuksa School’s Kathu campus, explained to the Phuket Gazette.

“The event’s theme is ‘I Bless Philippines’ – as a way of blessing and helping our fellow Filipinos,” Ms Cambonga explained.

Starting at 1pm, volunteers will be accepting donations of food, clothing, cash and donations of other emergency items that are desperately need by the thousands of people who have been rendered homeless by the typhoon’s 315kmh winds.

Food stalls will be set up and t-shirts emblazoned with the motif “i Bless Philippines – United Filipinos in Phuket” will be available, with profits going toward the cause.

Children’s size t-shirts will cost 230 baht each, while medium to XXL sizes will cost 250 baht apiece.

Donations of emergency-relief items will be sent to Bangkok via PhuketPnoy Balikbayan Box, where Tsaiyo Travel Co Ltd (website here) will ship the donations to the Philippines.

“As many Filipinos in Phuket work in the hospitality [and education] industries, many hotels and the international schools across the island are lending their support,” Ms Cambonga explained.

The Philippines embassy in Bangkok estimates that about 2,000 Filipinos live and work in Phuket.

For more information about the “I Bless Philippines” fundraising event, contact Ms Cambonga at 083-648 0512 or email her at maanz_0512@yahoo.com

* The original article mistakenly reported the Philippines government BaLinkBayan service (website here) as the transfer agent.