Christmas for the Homeless & New Year for the Displaced

Christmas is here. It was a roller-coaster year for me but I still have a lot to be thankful for. That being said, in the spirit of Christmas, I want to be able to give the homeless and the displaced due to Storm Vinta something to be thankful for this incoming year.

When you roam in the streets here in the capital of the Philippines, you would find many homeless people. Most of them would be families-- adults with their children sleeping along the sidewalk. The government tries to take them in through the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development, but based on personal experience, the people they take in would prefer to go back to the streets because the government can only do so much and sometimes the homeless themselves would say they feel comfortable sleeping along sidewalks.

On the other hand, the Philippines is known to be hit by storms that bring damage to our nation. One such storm this year came 3 days before Christmas and hit my hometown, Cagayan de Oro City. Thankfully my senior-citizen parents were able to avoid being stuck in the city with no water over the holidays because they were able to fly to Manila but I have some classmates/friends who've lost their homes and/or most of all that they own.

So this year, I've decided I'll do my charity work differently. I'll raise money through my Christmas cash bonus (roughly around $100) and your help to provide at least 10 or more families with food good for 3 meals in 7 days and/or give financial assistance to those affected by storm Vinta. Once I raise enough money after Christmas/the New Year, I and some friends would randomly give the "food boxes" to the homeless and/or give the money to my classmates/friends. Hope that this Christmas, we'll all work together, albeit belatedly, to give a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to a couple of families here in my country. Thank you in advance for sharing the Holiday Cheer thru your donation.