Helping up to 200 Families in the Philippines This Christmas

If you're reading this, you know me — I'm Reed.

What you may or may not know is that I run a company called ClaimScale, and most of my team (24 people) is based in the Philippines. They're an incredible group, and over the past few years, we've tried to find small ways to give back locally during the holidays.

Last year, we put together Christmas gifts for 100 kids at a small jungle school. It was simple, meaningful, and completely organized by my team on the ground.

What Happened

A couple of weeks ago, I asked them what we should do this year. They brought up something I honestly hadn't realized the full extent of — an area near Cebu that was hit by back-to-back disasters: severe flooding along the Mananga River and then Typhoon Tino within two weeks. Some riverside villages were literally wiped off the map overnight. Entire homes gone. Families displaced with absolutely nothing left.

One of my employees lives near the area and shared photos and news reports with me. It was bad — much worse than what made headlines here.

What Stunned Me

When I asked who wanted to help, a couple of people volunteered. Then it became five. Then seven. And here's what got me:

They were willing to pay for their own flights and transportation just to show up and help strangers.

To put this in perspective — that would be like you or me paying $1,000+ out of pocket to fly into a disaster zone just to help out relative to their pay. They weren't expecting anything from me. They simply wanted to go.

That hit me hard. I realized if my team is this willing to serve, I need to support them fully.

So I told them I would personally cover:

- All flights

- All meals

- All transportation

- All lodging

And as a company, we committed $1,000 to fund relief packages ourselves. That alone will help 40 families with real essentials — rice, canned goods, cooking oil, hygiene supplies, blankets, sleeping mats, Christmas meals, and more.

Why I'm Asking

Originally, I didn't plan to ask anyone for help. This was something we were going to do internally, quietly.

But when seven of my team members said, "we want to go — we want to do more," I realized we could make a much bigger impact if we opened the door for others who might want to be part of it.

Why This Is Different

These aren't faceless donations going into some giant nonprofit. This is direct:

- Every single dollar goes to food and supplies

- My team is buying everything locally, packing it, and hand-delivering it to families in evacuation centers

- Zero administrative costs

- No middleman

- I'm paying for all logistics — so 100% of contributions go straight to families

If you know me, you know I never ask for donations. But this hits close to home. My business, my livelihood, my team — they're all in the Philippines. These are real people, no different than you or me, taking action to help families who truly lost everything.

What Your $$$ Does

A single $20 donation provides one complete family relief kit:

Our Goal

Move from helping 50 to 200 families this Christmas.

Distribution Details

Our volunteers are flying to Mananga River, Talisay City, Cebu on December 17th to personally purchase, pack, and distribute everything. We'll document the entire process with photos and videos so you can see exactly where your contribution went.

The Situation

I'm attaching news links my team shared with me so you can see the situation firsthand. The photos are tough to look at — entire riverside sections gone, families with nothing.

https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/regions/2025/11/7/typhoon-tino-wipes-out-2-communities-along-mananga-river-in-talisay-city-cebu-0844

This is a chance to help real people directly, with no waste and no overhead, at a moment when they genuinely need hope and support.

If you choose to donate, thank you, truly.

If you can't, just sharing this means a lot.

Reed

Here are some photos my team lead on this took when in the area last week