Menonites pledge $200K for typhoon victims

Menonites pledge $200K for typhoon victims

By Beatrice S. Paez

TORONTO –The difficult task of ensuring aid falls into the hands of the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, rests on the efforts of the fleet of local and international humanitarian workers on the ground. Beyond being entrusted with the distribution of donations, they also help determine areas that are severely neglected.

The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), a relief and development agency in Canada and the U.S., is but one of many Canadian organizations pitching in on the relief front.

It is focusing its resources to respond to the urgent needs of the people in Leyte from the municipalities of Dulag, Tolosa and Tabontabon, just south of Tacloban.

In Dulag and Tolosa alone, the Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council estimates that about 675 people were killed.

MCC has pledged $200,000, which will be channeled into an emergency response fund for the Typhoon, and administered by the Church World Service, a cooperative ministry active in the field of relief and development.

Aid in the form of life-saving goods such as food, clothing, and other items for the purpose of hygiene and sanitation will also be distributed to about 3,750 families.

Most of the goods will be bought locally, when possible, to reduce the costs associated with transportation.

“We have two regional representatives from Thailand, who have gone to the Philippines…and are now in Cebu City,” said Greg Yantzi, the interim resource development director of MCC Ontario. “Our priorities are to help single-parents and [orphaned] children, the elderly and people with disabilities.”

The area directors, Dan and Jeanne Jantzi will be on hand to assess the impact of the devastation and coordinate efforts with partner agencies.

When the focus inevitably shifts away from the Philippines in the media, we intend to still be there, said Yantzi.