The local Filipino community has already raised thousands of dollars to help people in the Philippines in their time of need.
Nearly 2,000 people were confirmed dead and 11 million were affected after Typhoon Haiyan tore through the Philippines last weekend.
Salve Dayao, who owns Java Jazz Café on Sixth Street with her husband Ed, held a fundraiser on Nov. 10. Armed with their cell phones, people gathered in the Sixth Street diner and started calling contacts in search of donations.
“I raised $5,640,” Dayao said. “Collectively we raised $20,180. We continued making phone calls.”
Since the restaurant’s telethon, which included an appearance by Global Television, the participants have collected another $10,000.
“Our government is going to double a personal gift,” Dayao said of donations to the Canadian Red Cross. “Up to $100,000, they will donate dollar for dollar.”
While the owners and supporters of Java Jazz continue to burn up the phone lines in search of donations to the Canadian Red Cross, they’re not alone. Dayao said other fundraisers and “telethons” are taking place and more events are being scheduled.
“There are more fundraisers being planned. There was another telethon in the community. A lot of groups, we all have our personal contacts,” Dayao said. “If we all do as much fundraising as we can with our personal contacts, we will make it happen.”
A local Filipino association is making planning a fundraiser for Friday, Nov. 22, but details weren’t finalized at The Record’s press time.
“It’s going to be huge. I am inviting musicians there,” said Dayao, who along with husband Ed is a professional musician. “We are also doing another telethon.”
Dayao has spoken to family members in the Philippines, who weren’t directly impacted by the typhoon but have been impacted by the slow pace of goods arriving because of road closures. She said a friend’s grandma died, a woman who lived in Surrey six months a year and in the Philippines for the other half of the year.
“She died clutching one of her grandchildren,” Dayao said. “They decided to hang on to each other.”
According to the 2011 Census, Tagalog is the most common mother tongue spoken among New Westminster residents, aside from Canada's official languages. The census stated that Tagalog (which is spoken in the Philippines) is spoke by 3,050 people or 4.7 per cent of New Westminster’s population.
In addition to having a large Filipino community, the City of New Westminster has had a sister city relationship with Quezon City since 1991.
“We are still gathering more information about what is going on,” Mayor Wayne Wright told The Record. “Quezon City has not been affected to the best of my knowledge.”
City officials have visited the Philippines on several occasions as part of trips to sister and friendship cities in Asia.
In January 2012, a delegation from Quezon City visited New Westminster city hall and signed a reaffirmation of the memorandum of the agreement that established the sister city relationships. Quezon City officials asked New Westminster officials if they would visit in 2014, when it celebrates its Diamond Jubilee.
In the coming weeks, Wright will be attending a number of prescheduled events with the Filipino community and will also be sending letters to the current mayor and a former mayor of Quezon City.
