Night Relief

It is 5am. I am in a car, driving around the city. The air is cold and the sun is about to rise for another hour or so. For a busy city, everything is quiet. But the streets were anything but empty.

A week has already passed since that terrible night in Cagayan de Oro City. The monstrous floods that claimed lives and properties in a blink of an eye and left hundreds of families homeless--many of them were the people I was passing by that moment. Lines upon lines of people sleeping on sidewalks, waiting sheds, establishments, and street corners. They had nothing to protect them from the hard floor and the cold air. Some were huddled together in a vain attempt to keep warm. 

(Many of these people were not able to get relief packs because during the morning, they were either cleaning or repairing their damaged houses.)

For days, we have been giving mats and blankets to people in evacuation centers and community areas. And we do this during daytime. But after seeing how different the streets are at dawn, I realized it was time to shift gears.

That was when the idea of a “Night Relief” was born. 

We decided to give relief packs to the people sleeping on the streets. And the best time to do it was at night, when many of them are scouting for places to sleep on. 

So that Friday evening, exactly one week after the disastrous floods, Operation Blessing went around Cagayan de Oro City to bring relief bags to flood victims sleeping on the streets. People sleeping near canals, sidewalks, in front of closed buildings, under the bridges, and the city hall driveway were given a pack of blessing – a mat, blanket, soap, oil, salt, and 1L of drinking water. 

One of the families we met that night was a mother and her 7-month-old baby. When Operation Blessing found them, they were huddled in a street corner with only a small, thin blanket to keep them warm. When we handed the relief pack to the mother, she was extremely grateful.

The “Night Relief” operation was a beautiful sight. The smiles of the 375 families we blessed that night were priceless. For them, it was an unexpected blessing. But they weren’t the only ones blessed. We, too, were blessed with this experience. Excitement was brimming in our volunteers’ faces. Truly, it is a joy to serve the Lord. 

So much is yet to be done but we thank you, our faithful partners, for your joy in serving the Lord. We hope you would continue joining us in extending God’s love to the affected families of the Sendong floods and encourage them that hope could still be found even in the midst of this dire situation.

If you want to send help to the victims of Typhoon Sendong, please visit our giving page for details.

Because We Care.