Relief for Typhoon Yolanda Victims

Hey friends, my name is Abby Kraft and I am a 23 year old missionary from Beaufort, South Carolina- serving in the Philippines right now. I am here with the Presbyterian Church USA as a Young Adult Volunteer (YAV), serving in the Visayas region in a mountain town called Mabinay. A Filipino friend from the United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Dumaguete City asked me to help him with a project raising money for victims and survivors of the typhoon... I'm sure you have heard about the devastation occurring in the Philippines in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan). Yolanda is being called the deadliest storm in history, up to 10,000 are suspected dead. The island of Leyte and the island of Samar are suffering. There is no food, no water, no electricity, and no outside communication. Many people have family members that they have not heard from in these areas. The people that are left stranded here are surrounded by dead bodies and are looting through remains in order to find ANYTHING valuable. It is unsafe to travel there at this time because of the crime rate. The government has issued a marshal law on Leyte; victims are being flown out via military aircraft amidst chaos and lawlessness. At this point, all we can do is raise money and personally give any funds raised to a reliable organization in the area. What we will likely end up doing is using these funds to help victims AFTER they are relocated. My friend Elai said it best: "We should be thankful that we were spared but we should help those people who were badly hit." Indeed we should, and I hope you can help me with that. I will update this page once we have further information about where exactly these funds are going, but you can rest assured that I will ensure it gets into the proper hands. Please donate whatever you can- the US dollar goes a long way here in the Philippines. Thank you so much and God bless.