BIBBAK Illinois, American Igorots raising funds for Ondoy victims

BIBBAK Illinois (see photo), in association with the American Igorot group, will be performing Igorot dances on stage at the local Asian Heritage Festival this Sunday. This is an effort to help raise relief funds under the American Red Cross for victims of Typhoon Ketsana. My family won't be there due to prior commitments, but we'll be praying for the success of the fund raising effort. Here's the full post from Rex Delson taken from the American Igorot Facebook page:

"As some of you know, the Philippines recently suffered from Typhoon Ketsana a few days ago (Sept 26th). Sadly, many of you may not even be aware of this because the American media’s coverage of this tragedy has been poor at best. In short, Ketsana blew across Luzon dumping a month’s worth of rain in just six hours and flooded most of Manila and its surrounding areas. More than 3 million people were affected by Ketsana and 676,235 are in evacuation centers not to mention the dozens that remain missing. To make matters worse, a category 4 typhoon (second strongest category), named “Parma”, is heading for Luzon and is expected to make landfall tomorrow morning.

While prayer is the best thing to do at this time, we can also do more. Two days ago, Anin Goldiwhil of Igorots @ Facebook group sent a message to all its members informing them of ways they can help. Unfortunately, we in America (and some of you elsewhere) are not able to help in those ways because of our distance. American Igorots can help by contributing to relief funds already going towards the victims of these disasters. People can do this through their churches, schools and relief organizations such as the American Red Cross.

American Igorots is encouraging all members to contact their local relief organizations to help in this cause. If you are a member of BIBAK in your area, ask the leaders to organize fund raisers. If they already have fund raisers going on for other purposes, ask them to divert those funds to help disaster victims. These are just a few ideas. I’m sure others can think of some other ways.

Since I have been a child here in America, I can always remember the generosity and family closeness of Igorots that I believe makes being an Igorot special. For this reason, American Igorots with the help of BIBBAK Illinois will attempt to raise relief funds under the American Red Cross name this Sunday at the local Asian Heritage Festival that BIBBAK Illinois is planning to perform their Igorot dances on stage in public. Let us know what other kinds of efforts are taking place throughout the different parts of the country by posting in the American Igorots discussion topic, “Ketsana & Parma Disaster Relief.”

Agyamanak ken ag aluad ka,
- R. Delson"