The blessing and official turnover of 105 houses built by the Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation for residents of La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, whose homes were washed away by Typhoon Tino, was held on Saturday, August 15.
Fr. Gerardo “Tata” Caro, Jr. blessed the houses located at the Ferlou Relocation Site in Barangay Cubay owned by the La Carlota City government .
NVC turned over the houses, now occupied by the beneficiaries, to the La Carlota City government.
La Carlota Mayor Jose Luis “Joelu” Jalandoni thanked NVC Foundation, its donors, and everyone who made the housing project possible.
“It’s a model of public-private partnership,” he said.
Millie Kilayko, NVC president, told the housing recipients: “Do not thank us. We are only fulfilling our obligation as an organization to serve those who have less. Do not thank government too, because they are only fulfilling their obligation to serve the people. Thank God instead, because He has no obligation to love us, but His love touched people to give, through NVC, the resources to build the 105 houses.”
The families who moved into the new homes could not return to the areas where they previously lived, which were declared “no-build zones” after the typhoon.
Donors of the houses came from across the Philippines and various parts of the world, who responded to NVC’s call for help on social media.
The NVC staff and Fr. Gerardo “Tata” Caro Jr. blessing the houses.*
“Twenty-eight of the houses were funded by anonymous donors, and a small school in Pampanga was among the first to contribute,” Kilayko said.
Kilayko said “a young lady in Australia baked cookies. A teen asked his Lola to convert her Christmas gifts for him and his cousins into a donation towards a home instead. Every NVC employee also made a personal contribution so that their collective donation could also fund a house. So many, many more stories built this new community—a testament of love that can only come from heaven and not the earth.”
The 26-square-meter houses feature two bedrooms, a living room with a balcony, and a toilet.*
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