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This year's holiday season will go down as one of the saddest Christmas to many Filipinos especially those living in the provinces that were affected by killer typhoon Sendong.

According to a report from Unicef, almost 200,000 children were affected by the flash flood brought by Sendong.  What's more depressing is the fact that more than a thousand lives were also taken and another thousand people are still reported missing.

I am just proud that I am part of an organization like People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP) under the leadership of outgoing President Bong Austero who immediately released funds to help out affected employees of our member companies based in Cagayan De Oro and Iligan City.  It's our own little way of reaching out to them, especially to CDO who adopted us for a week during a PMAP event held in the city last October.

I was also inspired by friends and fellow bloggers based in CDO who has been active in conducting fund-raising activities for our kababayan in spite of the fact that they too are victims of Sendong.  One of them told me that "you'll be moved by the scenes when you are here.  You will feel that you're just lucky that you did not experience what they have gone through and that's my motivation to help them in the possible ways I can"

Yesterday, my family spent lunch at McDonalds in Proj. 4, QC and I consider it one special day not because of the holiday celebration but more on the joy that I felt when we brought something to donate for the victims of Sendong. It was the first time that I actually made extra effort to share something for the needy since I stopped doing a yearly gift-giving activity in 2007, the year I lost my daughter and younger brother in a span of three months.


Prior to that date, I've been organizing activities like feeding programs and donation drive for Christmas using a portion of my 13th month pay since 1997.  But I somewhat lost the excitement and the Christmas spirit when I got hit with a back-to-back personal tragedies.

Typhoon Sendong may have brought sadness to the lives of thousands of people but it's really amazing how hope can do wonders.  Hope touches even the heart of stone, uplift spirit, and unite a nation.  Personally, my heart was broken many times looking at the images of mothers cradling lifeless bodies of their children, people crying out for help and sad faces of children.  But I have to admit, it awaken me to relive a good deed that I should have not ceased doing in the first place.  I have just pushed the "reset" button and will do more action than just writing for this advocacy blog.  

For those who have old clothes, foot wears, bedding, canned goods and other useful things to donate, McDonalds outlets nationwide are accepting donations for the victims of Sendong.  Below are other organizations who have also offered their services and accepts your donations:

Inquirer Relief Drive
1098 Chino Roces Ave.
Cor MAscardo and Yague Sts.
Makati City

GMA Kapuso Foundatrion
2nd Floor GMA Netwrok Bldg.
GMA Drive, Diliman, QC

All LBC outlets nationwide.

For cash donations, you can visit any outlet of 7-Eleven or Cebuana Lhuiller or log on to www.worldvision.org.ph or www.unicef.ph.