Once on the receiving end of disaster relief, Typhoon Tino survivors in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, raised funds among themselves to aid the very school that helped rebuild their homes.
“Love that comes forward comes around full circle,” , NVC Foundation President Millie Kilayko said Wednesday, Sept. 2.
She said Typhoon Tino victims now residing in 105 houses in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, built by the NVC with donations from various groups and individuals, have raised funds for Assumpta Technical School in San Simon, Pampanga, after learning that the mission school was underwater.
The history between the two communities began two days after Typhoon Tino hit Negros Occidental. As the Assumption school network, alumnae, and congregations organized fundraising efforts for the storm’s victims through the NVC Foundation, Assumpta Technical School was the first to respond, Kilayko said.
Agnes Pangilinan, finance officer of the Pampanga mission school, reached out to request bank details to transfer their intended donation, saying they wished to contribute to the building of homes for the La Carlota residents.
Kilayko said she was later told by persons close to the school that the immediate response from the school which, being a mission school, was low in resources, was because they knew first hand the hardship of being flood-stricken.
This weekend, floodwaters submerged Assumpta Technical School, as well as the homes of its students, teachers, and staff.
The following day, the NVC team visited the Negros relocation site, where 18 percent of the 105 homes had been built through combined donations from the Assumption network. When the team shared the news of the Pampanga school’s flooding and recalled the donation the school had previously sent, the residents responded immediately.
A box labeled “ASSUMPTION” was passed around the relocation site. Despite facing ongoing financial, physical, and emotional recovery, the 105 families joyfully contributed coins and paper bills to the collection, including a lady unable to stand due to spinal cancer, Kilayko said.*
[sibwp_form id=1]