When she learned that her daughter-in-law will volunteer for the repacking of relief goods the following morning, 68-year-old Julieta Samonte expressed her eagerness to help.

On January 18, she woke up early and prepared their packed lunch for the day. Together with daughter-in-law Roselie and granddaughter Rheinalyn, they headed to the DSWD warehouse in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite, a few towns away from their residence in Trece Martires City, to offer some help.

At the height of the relief operations for the affected families of the Taal Volcano eruption, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) called for volunteers to assist in the immediate repacking of relief goods for distribution to the affected families.

Julieta’s daughter-in-law is one of the thousands who responded to the call.

At the warehouse, volunteers are assigned various tasks including sorting of food items such as coffee sachets, noodles and canned goods as well as weighing and packing rice, arranging the food items in a box and sealing them to make these ready for transport to the affected localities.

Given her age, Julieta’s task was simple—sorting out sachets of coffee to be included in the box. Despite this very simple task, Julieta’s heart is happy.

“Tayong mga Pilipino ay matulungin talaga ‘pag may ganitong kalamidad. Kaya masaya akong magvolunteer kasi alam kong ‘yung mga relief goods na natatanggap nila, kahit papano ay ikasasaya na ng puso nila,” shared Julieta.

Offering service for the affected families

Julieta and the rest of the other volunteers assigned in the repacking of goods have the same desire to help the affected families.

“Hindi man ako makatulong financially, gusto ko pa ring makatulong kahit sa ganitong paraan,” shared 24-year-old Cherry Galas, who went straight from her 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM shift in Makati City to the warehouse to be a volunteer.

A group of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries from the municipality also offered their help in the warehouse. Despite being beneficiaries of the DSWD program because of their financial situation, this did not hinder them to help in the only way they know how.

“Wala man po kaming maibigay na pinansyal o anuman po, serbisyo na lang po. Masaya na po ang puso namin na makatulong sa mga kababayan natin na nasalanta ng Taal,” shared Marina Marcelino, their parent leader, shared.

Call for continuous help

To date, there are more than 500 individuals who had already provided service in the repacking of relief goods in the said warehouse. The DSWD is continuously calling for volunteers as the Department requires volumes of food packs for the affected families.

The DSWD is grateful for the thousands of volunteers not only in the repacking of the relief goods in the warehouse but also all the other volunteers in various activities in the relief operations. These include volunteers in the transportation and distribution of goods, management of evacuation centers and data banking of affected families among others.

The service of the volunteers, no matter how big or small, contributes to the immediate response to the needs of the affected families of the Taal Volcano eruption.#