Typhoon Mastercard

This is a story of a might-as-well Mastercard commercial set in one day due to the Typhoon Odong.

Texting your friends where to meet up to help in the relief effort ---- P5.00, probably.

My friend Kim always has this heart to help people. Her generous, caring heart is indeed one remarkable thing about her. Whenever you need volunteers --- whether it’s to organise the PE 12 dance or to help collect money for Xeroxing handouts --- expect her to be there, ready to lend a helping hand. And so, it came as no surprise that she’d be involved in the school’s effort to bring goods to the victims of this ravaging typhoon.

But, of course, an operation as massive as this needs as much people willing to volunteer their time and effort. So when Kim asked me if I could help out in sorting and packing goods for the mission, I readily accepted. It was five pesos of load for a cause.

Time spent carrying goods to the gym, sorting them out, and distributing them evenly ---- 5 exhausting hours.

When I arrived at the college building I saw just how much work I was to perform. Boxes and boxes of noodles, toiletries, clothes, canned goods and other relief materials littered part of the first floor of the college building. I was then called to the covered courts to sort out the donations.
The amount of materials in there was even more massive than that of in the college building, and what? I’m partly in charge of sorting them out? Okay then, let’s go. I separated medicines from a previous medical mission according to whether they were expired already or still usable. After that, I was called to separate the boxes of goods according to categories --- apparel, canned goods, noodles, powdered drinks, and liquid drinks. We had to carry the boxes and place them in particular areas of the gymnasium set up as zones for each type of good. My goodness, my rather muscular arms have purpose after all! Then, the clothes sorters called me on to further separate the apparel according to age and gender classifications. As I rolled each piece of clothing, I was growing tired, and it seemed to me that work would never stop. For some reason though, I kept smiling as work loomed and loomed. Perhaps, it’s the realisation that yes, I am making a person out there smile with my toil.

After a pizza break (Thank you, Sir Harvey for treating us volunteers.), it was another plunge into work. This time it was removing the individual packages of noodles from their wholesale bag. Again, my athletic built worked in my favour as it was easy for me to open each bag without relying on scissors. Then, it was on to separating the streams of Milo and Nescafe sachets into individuals.

Perhaps, the hardest and most grueling part was when we had to distribute each type of good to form one relief package. There was calculation involved (Is one Aro chocolate milk cup equivalent to two sachets of Milo?). There was some kneeling and back bending involved trying to place the goods on spots on the floor. There was even me almost tripping on a can of corned beef.

It was indeed one grueling time, but it was time very well-spent. By the time my parents had to pick me up at 3:00 pm, I was ready to sink into the car seat and collapse.

Six packs of biscuits (courtesy of me) + one frozen yoghurt to rejuvenate from a day of work (courtesy of dad) = P245. 00

When we got to Alabang Town Centre, there was one place I wanted to go to --- Makati Supermarket to get some biscuits to add more food to those to be distributed. As my Mum scoured the aisles to get food for the house, I decided to compare prices and grab the most sensible deal to add to the cart. I promised I’d pay for those, wanting to give out of my own resources.

Then, my Dad announced that he has a little surprise for me. You see, I’ve always wanted to try White Hat’s frozen yoghurt, and he thought that I deserved it after the exhausting time I spent sorting and carrying stuff. I must admit that it was delicious, but what was more scrumptious was the pride in my parents’ eyes as I regaled them with stories of a day well-spent

Knowing you’re part of alleviating flood victims’ situation --- priceless.

*** Okay, so my story-telling skills aren’t as splendid as usual. But hey, give me a break. I’m writing this when what I really want to do is crash.