Grace Kwon, staff writer of Northern Valley Suburbanite, writes about an initiative in the US which aims to raise funds for Yolanda typhoon victims. FPTI is chosen among various NGO’s to receive financial support to continue relief operations.
Tenafly teen organizing concert to help victims of typhoon
TENAFLY — After news broke about Typhoon Haiyan’s destruction in the Philippines, which killed thousands of people and destroyed more than a million homes, Natalia Rodriguez, 14, wanted to do something that would help those displaced because of the storm.
Despite being thousands of miles away from the devastation, the Tenafly High School freshman will combine her love for arts and community to host a benefit concert on Sunday, Dec. 15 from 2 to 5 p.m. at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church.
The benefit concert will feature a variety of teenage performers, including a rock band, a rapper, chamber music groups, a classical guitarist, a solo singer, magician and three acapella groups.
Rodriguez said she felt a natural sympathy towards the Filipino people because of her familial roots. She enlisted help from her mother, Marisu, a native of the Philippines, to assist in planning and logistics.
Though the Rodriguez family did not have any relatives immediately affected by the nation’s deadliest typhoon, Marisu and her daughter were touched mainly by photos of the nation’s children.
“It was heart wrenching to see a lot of children under 5 who are now homeless and have no parents,” she said. “What really impressed us was that in the pictures in the aftermath, you see the children still smiling and still really optimistic.”
To quickly spread word about the event, Rodriguez set up a Facebook event page, looking for help in any form. She asked her talented friends to provide entertainment, and others to donate baked goods to sell during the show.
“It is very impressive to see how many teenagers willingly came to support her endeavor and expressed the desire to help out in any way,” Marisu said.
Rodriguez also reached out to clubs in her school community to get more active participation. The Key Club, the school’s volunteer club group, helped advertise and spread information about the event through word-of-mouth because of their large club participation.
Besides trying to work around busy schedules to organizing the benefit, the mother and daughter team said that putting all the details together was, at times, challenging and overwhelming, especially when approaching local merchants for donations.
“Both of us, we don’t really have a thick face,” Marisu said. “We don’t like asking people for money, but since it’s not for us, we really stepped up to the plate to go and approach people. We went out of our comfort zone to just do it because it’s for a good cause.”
“Asking for help from other people was a bit of a struggle,” added Rodriguez, “but the response was great. People were willing to help and a lot volunteered their talents for the concert.”
Marisu said that donors have been “very supportive and generous” and will not only provide prizes for the benefit’s raffle and tricky tray, but also will cover the fixed cost to launch the event.
Though the pair hopes to have a turnout that fills the auditorium’s maximum capacity of 280 people, they also want the benefit to inspire the community to learn to give back.
“Even if we don’t raise a lot of money, I just want kids, especially in a very affluent community, to feel that they’re giving,” Marisu said.
All proceeds will be donated to the Catholic Relief Agency and American Initiatives for Social Development to give directly to the victims of the storm.