Jeesh… who would have thought that a bunch of pennies could help restock a typhoon-destroyed school in the Philippines? Fortunately, a fellow church friend, Honduras orphanage philanthropist, and 6th grade school teacher at Lyons Central School in upstate, NY did. His name is Eric Lewis… and a few months ago after a liturgy at St. Michael’s Parish...
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The following is an update on our typhoon relief in the Philippines. It´s a pretty amazing story of how a 22 year old Filipina struggled to survive the flood and rebuild her family´s life. Please note that I left out the names of my friends who sent me this update. I have also used...
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Thank you to everyone who is helping us with our Philippines typhoon relief fund. Little by little we’re getting up there. We’re now at $3,398 in donations… on our way to $4,000 by the end of next week. As of today, we’ve sent $3,000 over so far: $1,000 – These funds went to Ortigas Center,...
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My friend Emma just got back from Manila. Here was an update she sent me from her perspective of things over there: “I first came to the Philippines exactly a year ago. This is now my third trip here. I consider myself a pretty well travelled individual, but I am always struck by the...
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I’ve heard stories of entire neighborhoods disappearing from mudslides triggered by the typhoon rain in remote areas of the Philippines. Just a few days ago, one of my friends and former co-workers, James Keating, told me that several people at the call center where I used to work in Pampanga (hours away from Manila)...
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Morris Gage is one of the nicest guys I know. He’s a good friend of my dad’s from upstate, NY — and he was a huge influence in the development of the soccer teams at my high school back in the day. He also makes the best hot chicken jerky I’ve ever had.  My...
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Tonight, we videotaped the raffle for Rebecca’s floral painting. She donated this painting to help raise awareness for the typhoon victims. Thanks a million to all who have rallied for the victims through donations and other support. At approximately 1015pm CT, Rebecca drew one name out of my 1 gallon cowboy hat. And the...
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My friend and coworker, Cecile, will be putting out a collection jar at her garage sale tomorrow in Austin to help raise awareness and funds for the Philippines typhoon victims. I think that is a great example of how anyone can help out without much extra effort at all. Who knows how much she...
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I just had a quick MSN conversation with David, my Filipino friend. He’s one of the guys with a quote on the left side of this web site. Anyways, David says that another typhoon is hitting Manila right now. Fortunately, he didn’t think this one is going to be as bad. David and Velvet (one...
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**First Relief Update** The first call center that I helped launch for Dell over in the Philippines was  with an outsource partner called Ambergris — located in Ortigas Center, Manila. A year before I left Dell, Ambergris got bought out by Telus – the Toronto-based telecom. Scores of my Filipino friends from the “Ambergris days” still work at...
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Good news today: The United States Department of Agriculture just announced it will send nearly $9 million worth of rice and dry milk to the Philippines. This donation should help provide food and drink to 438,000 “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” flood victims for 60 days. The U.S. Agriculture Secretary said: The food aid I am...
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My buddy Art volunteered to create a free iPhone application for Social Donating. It’s called “FilipinoFloodRelief” — and it’ll pretty much be the same thing as this web site, but tailored to iPhone users. I don’t have an iPhone so I’m not that familiar with applications. But since Art volunteered to make this app...
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When I announced that I wanted to help raise funds for the Philippines typhoon victims I knew two things would happen… My family would help out My friends would help out Sure enough, they did… and within 24 hours we had raised $500. Today, less than 2 weeks later, we’re at $2,000. This is...
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Kathryn Rybczak – from the Canandaigua, NY-based Daily Messenger — took the time to interview me last week. Like Gwen (Chronicle Express) and Jim (KVUE News), Kathryn asked a lot of great questions and showed a genuine interest in helping us convey our message about getting relief to the Philippines typhoon victims — whether...
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Jim Bergamo – from the Austin, TX-based KVUE news team — took the time to interview my brother and I on Monday to help raise awareness for the Philippines typhoon victims. The TV interview aired Monday evening and is in their online archives right now. Click here to watch the news piece and read the article....
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