Sacrifice Starbucks for a Cause

Just last week I spent almost an hour with my co-worker at Starbucks in Festival Mall. It was a long day. We had just come from GMA Cavite - which we fondly referred to as "bundok" (mountain) - from a meeting with one of the school directors of a university there. We've had very little sleep the night before, having to rush proposals, presentation slides, and production of the company profile. We had been  wearing 4 inch high heels since 8AM that morning.

The first sip of cold frappe was wonderful. I eagerly mixed it with my straw, to thicken the drink with the whipped cream. I don't remember the name. It's one of their holiday concoction. I had the coffee with this lovely cookie. It was sugar overload. It was a lovely atmosphere with dim, yellow light, the smell of freshly-brewed coffee and mouth-watering pastries, and a feel of I-can-buy-what-I-want that expensive drinks almost always give me (although, seriously, even someone earning about PHP12,000.00 per month can afford to buy a decent-sized milk tea).

It's like this: if I wanted a pick me up, I'd head to 7Eleven and buy myself Coke. If I wanted to reward myself, I'll have milk tea from Tea Farm or, sometimes, a frappe from SB or some other coffee shop. Expensive drinks are awesome that way. 

Recent events, however, have made me think twice about rewarding myself. Last week, Yolanda wrecked havoc in the South. The super typhoon, declared as the strongest typhoon of the year and the strongest in history to have made landfall, was in the Philippines for less than a day, but the devastation it left on its wake was catastrophic. Yolanda left thousands homeless. Several thousands of others are dead. 

Right now, survivors of the storm are dying of hunger, disease, and violence.

One of the most heart-breaking photos (from inquirer.net): A man carries a dead child in his arms.

Right now, the United Nations, the Red Cross, several countries (including Hong Kong!) have donated for relief operations. We're talking about billions of pesos coming in for the survivors of Yolanda (hopefully non of that money will fatten up any official's pocket and go straight to the ones who need it, but that is another story). Both local and international NGOs are rushing to aid our kababayan.

Those of us who feel helpless because we can't spare thousands of pesos for donations, because we have no time nor skill to go out there and help out with the relief operations, have another way to help. 

A drink from a posh coffee shop would cost you roughly PHP200.00. Some people visit these places once a month, but then all of us probably has that friend who spends every single day curled up in one of those soft couches, sipping the coffee-sugar-fats combination. 

PHP200.00 can buy several tablets of medicine. Or a three or more 1L bottle of water. Or packs of biscuits. Or four kilos of rice. Or milk for children. Or buy a blanket a family can share.  Or even a box to put donations to. The list goes on and on, but the simple fact is the cost of my reward can mean alleviating hunger, thirst, and pain in others. 

To clarify, Codswallop is not asking for donations, although some of my friends have agreed to giving money so we can donate medicine together. That's an individual venture, though. 

Here are some of the NGOs that you can donate to and volunteer on. I'm sure there are several other organizations in your your community that you can get it touch with as well. 

Knock yourselves out.

Sometimes, it is the little things that have the biggest impact.