Where:
Where:Cebu
Target audience:
Target audience:Communities affected by the typhoon
Who is following the project?
Who is following the project?Brother Renee
Fundraising
Completed
thank you to all donors!
Background
On Dec. 16, 2021, super-typhoon Rai/Odette struck the Philippines, bringing destruction and ruin to several areas of the country for days. Its winds, which exceeded 240 kilometers per hour, swept away entire villages, causing more than 400 deaths and a hundred missing.
The inhabitants of the six regions affected by the passage of the typhoon are now forced to start from scratch, subject to complete vulnerability. Thousands of people, of all ages and sexes, experience daily uncertainty related to the most immediate human needs: shelter, hygiene, food.
Franciscan presence
Since arriving in the archipelago in 1577, the friars have been fervently active toward the Filipino people. The missionary spirit has been marked by a strong social commitment that has complemented the spiritual one. Over the centuries, the friars have established four hospitals, a leprosarium and several schools. All this, of course, without neglecting pastoral activity, pursued through the animation of numerous parishes spread throughout the country.
Today, the Friars Minor present in the Philippines are coordinated by the Province of San Pedro Bautista and the Custody of St. Anthony of Padua. After more than four centuries, the friars continue their service to all people in need of help.
Project
Friars from the Custody of St. Anthony of Padua, located in the areas hardest hit by the cataclysm, immediately took action to provide basic necessities to meet the most immediate needs of the survivors. The Custody of St. Anthony of Padua was able to carry out initial relief operations for 100 families in Cebu City living near the Franciscan Retirement Community and another 60 families in Lapu City. In January, 152 families in Guihulngan City were also helped.
Today Brother Renee is asking donors to support extraordinary needs in the medium and long term: rebuilding schools and convents currently reduced to a pile of rubble. And thus provide hope for a future for thousands of men, women and children.
The program of the friars of the Custody of St. Anthony of Padua needs $350,000. This sum will be used to rebuild the collapsed roof of San Vicente Ferrer Parish in Cebu and to repair and secure convents and schools damaged by the typhoon. This is a medium- to long-term project to rebuild the community, bringing together survivors to help them regain hope.
Fundraising concluded
Thank you to all donors!