Tulong Handog ng mga Pilantod sa mga napinsala ng pagsabog ng Bulkang Taal.
Day 1
January, 18, 2020. Shopping for Relief goods and packing We started our day with a quick breakfast with a charter member of our Chapter Brod. Ceasar G. Guerrero for some much needed catching up and pep talk for our activity. We went to different bulk sale stores to get the best bang for our buck and even scoured public markets. By 2:00 pm we started sorting and packing the relief goods we bought and donated to us. Five active members dropped by to help us with the packing. Our care package were divided into two, Package A, contained food, while package B contained basic toiletries. Package A contained various canned goods, some snacks, noodles, rice, bottled mineral water etc. while Package B contained Toothbrush, toothpaste, bath soap, shampoo, laundry soap, napkins (for women), and underwear (briefs for men, panties for women). We also had diapers for babies. We finished packing around eleven in the evening.
Day 2
January 19, 2020. Relief drive One of the lessons greatly instilled upon us in DeMolay is to always ask the divine benediction from the heavenly father before doing any activity. Before we departed for Batangas, we offered a prayer which was led by one of the two active members who accompanied us. Upon arriving in Calaca, Batangas we had our lunch at the Montes residence prepared by Mom Gilda Montes. After eating, we rested for a bit. Brod Vincent Montes went to Calaca Municipal hall to ask which evacuation site our donations may best be given to. We were assigned to Timbain elementary school located in Barangay Timbain, Calaca Batangas. Upon arriving at the evacuation site we introduced ourselves to the Barangay Captain of Timbain and its officials. Afterwards, we started distributing our donations to the evacuees. We were able to give each and every evacuee in the said evacuation site a set of our “Pilantod care package” and with lots of spares left. Brod Rico Angelo C. Ramirez from Batch 16: Blue Diamond saw our post in our facebook groups and told us that if we still have some relief goods left we can drop them off in Balayan relief operations drop-off site. Brod Rico happened to be currently working in Balayan, Batangas. After trying the Calaca’s famous Lomi our team went to Balayan to meet up with Brod Rico and deliver our remaining relief goods. There we happened to chance upon the Mayor of Balayan Batangas and a friend of the Montes family, Hon. Emmanuel Salvador Fronda Jr., the Montes Brothers, Brod Vincent and Brod Lyndon introduced everyone to Mayor Jr Fronda, the latter thanked us for our humble donations. With all the relief goods donated already, “Team Tulong Handog ng mga Pilantod” decided that what better way to end our activities but to attend a mass at the Balayan Church, one of the oldest church in Batangas, to thank the almighty father for the gift of love, safety, and the chance to help our countrymen affected by the Taal volcano eruption. Before going back to Manila we tried Batangas’ best shawarma, Persian Shawarma by Dan Habibi, we cannot go home with an empty stomach right?
Credits to Bro. Vince Montes, PMC-MSA, KT
