The Filipino American Community Health Initiative of Chicago (FACHIC) participated at a fundraiser event called “Relief for Asia” hosted by Chicagoland Coalition for Asian Disaster Relief (CCADR). This event was held on November 28, 2009 at St. Thomas the Apostle Gymnasium in Naperville, IL. It showcased live ethnic dance performances, musical performances, martial arts, cultural workshops and ethnic foods. The goal of the event is to raise awareness and $60,000 in relief funds for victims of the recent back-to-back typhoons in the Philippines and the earthquake in Indonesia. The money raised at the event went to the American Red Cross Southeast Asia Disaster Relief Effort.

FACHIC volunteers were part of the organizing committee and they provided cultural workshops and games. They demonstrated traditional Filipino children’s games, such as Tumbang Preso. The goal of this activity is to promote physical fitness and exercise to children and families. Many children volunteered to learn the game and had fun playing it.

About the disasters: Late September, two typhoons made back-to-back landfalls in the Philippines. The first typhoon, Ketsana (aka Ondoy), dumped more than a month's worth of rain within 6 hours on the Island of Luzon. A week later, typhoon Parma (aka Pepeng), also made landfall on that same island. These two storms affected approximately 6.8 million lives, while displacing nearly a million people, injuring thousands and killing more than 1,000 people. On September 30th, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 hit the southern coast of Sumatra, Indonesia killing more than 1,300 people, with thousands more trapped in collapsed buildings and under landslides. The total amount of damage, displacements, injuries and deaths from these disasters are more devastating in magnitude than that of Hurricane Katrina.