Brittany Smith

12/4/13
Mahon
Assignment #13
Typhoon Haiyan Relief

The effects of Typhoon Haiyan are felt here at Penn State

Destruction, devastation, and disaster. Families scourging through little of what is

left of their destroyed homes. People help carry the numerous dead bodies off the streets.
Relatives crying as they cover their loved ones with a sheet, saying goodbye one last
time. What is described are not scenes from a tragic movie, but the aftermath of deadly
storm, Typhoon Haiyan.
Typhoon Haiyan, or commonly known in the Philippines as Typhoon Yolanda, hit
the country on Nov. 7. By the time the storm dissipated on Nov.12, the Philippines were
left with over 5,000 dead, 1,779 missing, and 4 million people displaced from their
homes. Typhoon Haiyan is the deadliest typhoon to ever hit the Philippines.
To some Penn State students, this big story hits close to home literally. The
storm had affected some of the students families of the Penn State Filipino Association,
a diverse organization on campus that focuses on representing the Filipino community
within Penn State as well as sharing the culture of the Philippines with their fellow
students.

Some students of the organization were relieved the storm didnt affect their
families, as the storm missed the countrys capital, Manila, where many of their relatives
are located. Other students werent as fortunate, as their families do live in the areas hit
by the typhoon and still havent even heard from their relatives that are possibly missing.
Senior, Chrysel Bersamin, is one of these students as her relatives are located in the
Visayas, the main area affected by the strong typhoon. Knowing your family is in
danger, possibly hurt or worse its just so painful being across the world, not being able
to help them at all, Bersamin said.
This organization didnt take this lightly: they knew they had to act immediately
on relief efforts. We all heard the news reports before Typhoon Haiyan hit, we knew this
storm was going to hit badly said Paul Aldana, President of the Filipino Association.
Before Haiyan even reached landfall, [the electoral board] started brainstorming
fundraising ideas for Typhoon relief. Last year, the Penn State Filipino Association, also
known as PSFA, had a small relief show for Typhoon Washi, a storm that hit the
Philippines last winter but the fundraiser did not make as much money as PSFA hoped it
would, as attendances was slow. I kept telling the others that we couldnt let this years
relief show fall through the cracks like the last one. We have to plan this well, Aldana
stated.
Knowing a relief show was going to take a little longer to put together, PSFA
wanted to do something to raise money in the meantime. They quickly reserved space in
front of both the Corner Room and the Family Clothesline on College ave. for a bake
sale. We werent sure how well we were going to do, since you see bake sales on
College ave. almost every other day, said John Lee, Vice President of PSFA. Theres

always an organization out there asking for money, so people are less inclined to buy
anything if they keep getting hounded to buy a baked good from every single bake sale.
Competition and repetition ended up being no problem for the organizations
cause as State College residents and students alike were more than willing to donate to
the cause for a delicious treat. We definitely did better than normal bake sales, I think
because this typhoon has been all over the news. More people are aware of whats going
on in the Philippines, Secretary of PSFA, Alisha Anders commented. The organization
ended up raising $600.82 just from their two bake sales.
PSFAs Typhoon Haiyan benefit show took place on Dec.4 in Heritage Hall. When
it came to putting together the relief show, the organization received more help than they
could ever hope for. The PRCC [Paul Robeson Culture Center] offered to help with
rental fees for the venue and covered everything. The room was even booked for the
month of December and the PRCC managed to get us in. said Aldana. As student
organizations also came rushing in to help, Aldana said they even had to cap the number
of performers for the show as so many student groups wanted to help.
A total of 14 acts performed at the benefit show. The line-up consisted of a variety
of student organizations, including the Belly Dancing club, The Coda Conduct, Pi Delta
Psi, R.A.M. Squad and Urban Dance Troup, just to name a few.
Reflecting back on the whole experience, Aldana praised both the State College
and Penn State community for their help and generosity. The amount of the support we
received over the past couple weeks has been just overwhelming. This is something that
has really hit close to home for a lot of us and the fact that everybody wants to help out...

it really means a lot. The Penn State Filipino Association in total raised $1,413.98. They
have chosen to donate all the proceeds to UNICEF.