Area Filipino Community To Arrange Typhoon Relief Efforts

Derek Ledda is helping to arrange the meeting. He's a statewide coordinator for the Filipino-American Lions Club.

"The Filipino people are very good in terms of coming together in times of disaster, it's called our Bayanihan Spirit."

On Capital Public Radio's Insight with Beth Ruyak today, Ledda said fundraising ideas so far range from benefit dinners to standing out on street corners.

"The challenge is to know how to be effective. We've had this experience before. Just a few weeks ago we had the earthquake in Bohol. So it's not just a matter of saying 'we want to do something.' It's to do it in the right way. And it's really just money, for now the immediate need is money."

Ledda says members of his own family as well as friends living in the Philippines are in Manila which was relatively unscathed by the typhoon...

"...although the storm encompassed the entire country. A friend of mine, she's still wondering if her mother is still alive. And others are telling us the same thing, they just don't know. And that's within areas that are more accessible."

Thursday's meeting will be held at Seafood City, a Filipino and Asian marketplace on Mack Road in South Sacramento. Members of The Filipino Community of Sacramento and Vicinity, the Filipino Womens Club of Sacramento and about 20 other community groups will be in attendance.