Filipinos help Haiti

Dear Friends,

Haiti and the Philippines share many things in common, like extreme poverty, natural disasters and more importantly our Catholic Faith, enough to call our Filipino community to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of Haiti during this time of distress.

This Sunday, we have a great opportunity to do just that. All Catholic parishes have beena asked by Archbishop Vlazny to do a second collection for victims of the earthquake in Haiti. As leaders in our community, I ask you to help share this information so that as many of our Filipino brothers and sisters can be prepared to give their share (however little or however big) to this collection.

As Filipino Catholics we are being asked now to take a step and make true to our promise to love and serve God. Our solidarity with the people of Haiti is not just a humanitarian act, it is a moral response to the call for charity and justice by the Gospel we preach.

Please pass on to your networks so that this Sunday, as we pray with our parish communities during Mass, we will give with grateful hearts the generous help we can give to those who are most in need today, the people of Haiti. The Philippines have been through a lot last year and many people came to our aid, giving hope and love to our brothers and sisters in the Philippines. We can always pay it forward! All of you who are receiving this represent about 26 parishes already and several organizations in our community. Reaching your friends and families within your parishes alone will really make a difference!

God bless us all especially the people of Haiti.

Thanks in advance for your faith and the generosity flowing from it,

Pia

Responding to Haiti's Earthquake Victims

A massive, 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti near the capital of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, January 12th. The damage to buildings is extensive and the number of injured or dead is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. Several organization in the Portland area are putting together relief efforts to help the victims of the earthquake. Below is a list of organizations where we can give donations:

Donations for earthquake relief in Haiti

* Providence Health International - our system's international health division. Donations to Providence Health International http://www2.providence.org/phs/phi/Pages/donate-online.aspx by Providence Oregon employees will be matched by the Oregon Region.
* Catholic Relief Services http://crs.org/ works closely with Caritas International.
* Mercy Corps www.mercycorps.org/haiti is an international organization based in Portland that has established a Haiti Earthquake Fund.
* Medical Teams International www.medicalteams.org/sf/home/Haiti_Earthquake is another Portland nonprofit. It provides emergency relief around the world.

There also are many other national organizations providing aid, including the American Red Cross http://www.redcross.org/, as well as local organizations in Portland and other cities . Be sure to check out any organization you don't know before making a donation to be sure it is legitimate.*

Material donations are not encouraged at this time.