Filipino Citizen Volunteers Create Online Portal To Connect Communities In Need With Resources During COVID-19

Citizen-organized one-stop website lists COVID-19 charity and fundraising initiatives

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We Filipinos are known for our bayanihan spirit, a trait allowing us to leave behind personal comfort in order to help community members in need. That same itch to help won’t be hampered by the enhanced community quarantine in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Aided by the internet and digital media, it’s never been easier to take an active role in relief efforts for our medical frontliners and affected communities. One way to help is through the new volunteer-run website HelpFromHome.PH.

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Volunteers created HelpFromHome.PH to connect donors to beneficiaries

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Screengrab from the Help from Home website
Image credit: HelpFromHome.PH

Launched on 25th March, HelpFromHome.PH is a citizen-organized website listing helplines, organizations, and initiatives that collect and send aid to both hospitals and severely-affected communities.

Volunteers from Tulong Kabataan – UP Manila donating masks to healthcare frontliners
Image credit: Tulong Kabataan – UP Manila

Tech-savvy volunteers connected with each other online to set up this website that lists information about hospitals and local government bodies that require help. Browse through calls for aid such as “Feed our frontliners” and “Protect our families at risk” to see what each group is looking for, from food to basic essentials and all the way to medical supplies.

Website

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Connecting donors with people seeking aid across the PH

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Angkas, listed on the HelpFromHome.PH website, gives food aid to riders whose income has been affected by the suspension of their motortaxi services
Image credit: Angkas

Now, if you live outside Metro Manila, you can also find groups in your area to contribute to. While HelpFromHome.PH’s first listings asking for aid started from within Metro Manila, they now include provincial listings as well.

With the increase in aid and money contributions, a team of committed background checkers ensures that groups featured in the website have proven track records of transparency, so that help truly reaches the beneficiaries.

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Share the website with a friend

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Bayanihan para sa Pilipinas, listed on HelpFromHome.PH, has donated face masks to East Avenue Medical Center
Image credit: Bayanihan para sa Pilipinas

Besides contributing in the form of money or food, anyone can also support HelpFromHome.PH for free simply by sharing this website with a friend. We can tap on our extended family and social and professional networks to get word and help out on the double.

And if you’ve started your own aid group, you can also sign up to be part of HelpFromHome.PH’s database. Let’s help our communities recover economically and socially from this pandemic as soon as we can.

Also check out:

• Dingdong Dantes’ foundation helps people find jobs during the pandemic
• Pinoys set up Facebook group to save cancelled food orders
• Luzon lockdown extended till 30th April

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Cover image adapted from: Bayanihan para sa Pilipinas, HelpFromHome.PH