PUHI — Some 21 boxes filled to the brim with everything from clothing to toys to non-perishable food left a Puhi driveway Monday afternoon and is headed to typhoon-ravaged Aurora and Quezon provinces in the Philippines. The boxes collected by
PUHI — Some 21 boxes filled to the brim with everything from clothing to toys to non-perishable food left a Puhi driveway Monday afternoon and is headed to typhoon-ravaged Aurora and Quezon provinces in the Philippines.
The boxes collected by two of Kaua‘i’s newest pastors, Linda and Richard Johnson, as well as Pastor Charlie Ortal and Pastor Gomez, are being shipped to an area whose residents will find it tough to celebrate Christmas this year.
After four huge typhoons devastated the region, causing enormous mudslides and killing hundreds, people in the two provinces are still without running water and electricity.
Kauaians have been “thinking of people who are having no (holiday) of any kind since they don’t have any electricity,” said Linda Johnson, a pastor with Garden Island Fellowship — Church of God. “I think at Christmas time, it’s pretty awesome, the support.”
“We’re saying ‘wow,'” Johnson said. “People just want to help. It’s exciting.”
And Ortal said there is still a chance to help. One more shipment will be going out next week.
“If you want to contribute, get it in by Thursday, because Christmas is here,” Ortal said.
As for the boxes that went out, they’ll be sent to a missionary family in the ravaged region, who will make sure that the goods go directly to the neediest.
“This is a poor province,” said Johnson. “The people who have still have, but the people who have not still don’t have” anything.
The Johnsons, who spent around eight years in the Aurora and Quezon provinces, trained the pastors who will be receiving the goods. Linda Johnson said it’s an uplifting experience when boxes arrive from the states.
“Rich and I have been on the other end of it. It’s a miracle,” said Pastor Linda Johnson. “We’ve survived a Signal 5 (typhoon) and seen the devastation.”
“The rice crop is gone, citrus is gone,” she said. “The locals can’t get out.”
Folks from Ha‘ena to Kekaha have pitched in to help strangers in that region, Ortal said, and many churches took up donations to pay for the boxes to be sent.
Orlando Carlan Cabaccan, from the Forex Shipping Company, gave Kaua‘i folks a cheaper rate as well. He also helped lug the boxes into his van to get them to Nawiliwili.
“The credit should go to Forex,” Cabaccan said of his contribution. “I owe God a lot, and the more you give, the more you receive.”
After 10 days of stuffing the goods in the boxes, they were gone in less than 10 minutes when Cabaccan arrived.
“We’ve been doing this until 1 a.m.” every day, said Johnson. “It’s going to feel lonely in the house now.”
After making their way to Manila, Johnson said, most of the boxes will move over land to reach Dipacualo, Aurora, in the central to upper part of the province.
Another half dozen are being sent to another pastor in Quezon.
To get involved in the second shipment, or for pick-up of items on the Westside, South Shore, and in the Lihu‘e area, please call the Johnsons at 246-4564 or 1-913-526-6790 (cell phone).
You can also drop items off at 4216 Oio St., Puhi, at the top of the stairs of the extension home.
For drop-off or pick-up on the Eastside and North Shore, please call Ortal at 639-8671.
The pastors would like to thank the following, as well as the anonymous donors, for their contributions: United Christian Fellowship of Kaua‘i, which includes New Hope Christian Fellowship, Island Worship Center, Jesus Saves Mission, The Way of Salvation Church, The Garden Island Church of God, Kauai Full Gospel Temple, and the Kauai Filipino Baptist Mission, as well as the New Hope Christian Fellowship and the Lihue Baptist Church.
Other individual donors the pastor wanted to thank include: Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Jimenez, Mr. and Mrs. Guillermo Alunape, Mrs. Ardelina Constantino, Mr. and Mrs. Ciriaco Ortal, Pastor and Mrs. Epifanio Tangalin, Pastor and Mrs. Remigio Ortal, and Mrs. Juanita Ortal, all of Kilauea; Suzanne in Wailua Houselots; Margaret Andrade of Wailua Homesteads; Meg and Brad from Ha‘ena; Charlotte Muchow of Colorado Springs, Colo.; the Paiste family of Kekaha; Virginia Rapozo of Kalaheo; the Cummings and Ching families of Lihu‘e; and Suzanne Pearson, as well as many others who left items at the drop-off points. They would also like to send a special mahalo to the manager and employees of Kentucky Fried Chicken in Lihu‘e for their goods.
Tom Finnegan, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
