The well of Filipino generosity never runs dry. The Filipino community in the Midwest – through accredited organizations, restaurants and individuals – continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic with an outpouring of the bayanihan spirit as manifested in various projects and acts of kindness.
Among these are numerous initiatives to give food to healthcare frontliners, produce and donate cotton face-masks, and provide relief goods to localities in the Philippines.
Pinoy Grill (Arlington Heights, IL), in partnership with Coffee Lab & Roasters – Evanston, honored our modern-day heroes by providing packed lunches and coffee to front liners at the ICU Department of Advocate Condell Medical Center, the Therapy Department of Glenview Terrace, and the staff of Presence Maryhaven.
Max’s Restaurant, together with other donors such as the University of the Philippines Alumni Association of Greater Chicago, Healing Touch Home Health Care and Advance Home Health Care, have been providing Filipino food to healthcare frontliners at hospitals such as Swedish Covenant Hospital, Humboldt Park Dialysis Clinic, University of Chicago Medicine, Cook County Hospital and Loretto Hospital and Chicago Police Officers at district 17.
The Philippine American Cultural Foundation – Midwest (PACF) and Piyesta Pinoy, together with other generous donors, have been providing meals for healthcare workers to thank them for their sacrifice and heroism. Filipino restaurant Mora Asian Kitchen (Bolingbrook, IL) has been matching the donations and has been preparing Pan-Asian cuisine meals for area hospitals. They have delivered meals to AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center Bolingbrook and AMITA St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet and will provide meals to front liners at Silver Cross Hospital New Lenox, AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center Hinsdale, and AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center La Grange.
The Chicago Mabuhay Centennial Lions Club recognized the dedication of healthcare front liners by committing to donate lunch boxes to a few hospitals in the Chicagoland area, including the New Roseland Community Hospital.
The Philippine Nurses Association – Greater Chicago Chapter has been providing food to their fellow nurses and other healthcare professionals in the front lines, including those at the Amita St. Joseph Medical Center COVID units ER, ICU, 8E, PCU, and 6W.
Through the initiative of groups such as the Pilipino Nurses Association of Michigan (PNAM) and the Rush family (Paaralan Pilipino), the Filipino community in Michigan has been sewing homemade face masks that were distributed to areas such as St. Clair Shores, Ascension St. John Hospital, HFTF group, and DMC hospital in Detroit. They continue to make more masks for distribution to grocery store staff, police officers, food and service crew. True to the Bayanihan spirit, various members of the community have contributed by buying and supplying the cotton fabric, elastic and thread, delivering the materials, and helping sew some of the masks. Kiwanis Club of Cosmopolitan Detroit (KCCD) members (Jenks family) donated 75 surgical gowns, 155 pieces of sterilized gloves, 250 pieces of exam gloves, several pieces of drapes, EENT splint and impervious split sheets to St. Mary Mercy Livonia Hospital and Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.
With the support of other generous members of the Filipino community, Ms. Mahlyn Kagan and her daughter Lawriebear Coloma, who are from Liloy, Zamboanga del Norte, have been making washable and filtered masks for workers at O’Hare International Airport and for firefighters in Greater Chicago.
The Kiwanis Club of Cosmopolitan Detroit (KCCD) extended support to the Sunday School kids in Bacolod City by providing rice, sardines and noodles to 63 children. The KCCD plans to provide additional food to more children and will also make arrangements with a specific school district in Detroit to help tutor some of their students struggling with their academic work while on lockdown for the rest of the school year. Information will also be gathered to see if breakfast meals can be provided to some of the impoverished students in a school struggling financially to maintain their food program for the students.
The Filipino-American Association of Michiana (FAAM) and The Mely and Rick Rey Foundation have donated N95 masks to the Beacon Health System for the frontliners fighting COVID-19. FAAM and the foundation also presented a donation to the Food Bank of Northern Indiana. Michiana is a region in northern Indiana and southwestern Michigan centered on the city of South Bend, Indiana.
As announced by the Philippine Honorary Consulate General in Detroit, the University of Santo Tomas Medical Alumni Association in America (USTMAAA), in collaboration with USTMAAA Philippines, has raised $100,000 and has donated PPE’s, disinfectants, face shields, food, and direct cast assistance to various hospitals from Cagayan to Sultan Kudarat.
The Philippine Consulate General in Chicago thanks the organizations and individuals who have contributed to the various humanitarian initiatives across the Midwest.
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Stay updated with news and information from the Department of Foreign Affairs in the United States midwest by visiting their website at https://www.chicagopcg.dfa.gov.ph,
https://www.chicagopcg.com or https://www.facebook.com/PHinChicago.
