Following the devastating typhoon in the Philippines in November, ET staff member, Gregg Butensky, initiated a fundraising effort to bring assistance to the people of Aklan on the island of Panay. Gregg has strong connections in Aklan having established a public lending library there over 15 years ago.
Last month, Gregg travelled to the region to ensure that the $10,000 raised is used in the most effective way possible. He’s providing the following dispatches for his donors, republished here for ET readers.
I’ve been continuing to work through the details of the project with the the folks at Task Force Tabang. We’re close but it’s taking longer than expected so I thought I’d send this brief update.
Specifically, I wanted to share some photos. I’ve created three photo sets on Flickr – one each for Project, Sense of Place, and Fiesta.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/butensky/sets/
The breakdown for financial assistance is final.
(Line items in pesos, total converted to US$)
1. Fishing Facilities Dispersal Boats - 3 boats @45,000.00 = 135,000.00 Hudhud (fishing nets) - 11 @10,000 = 110,000.00 2. Housing Assistance 5 houses @10,256.00 = 51,280.00 1 house @22,000.00 = 22,000.00 3. Operational Expenses Coordinator - 12,000.00/mo x 6 mos = 72,000.00 Monitoring - 2000.00/mo x 6 mos = 12,000.00 Total: 402,280.00 Contingency Fund (10%): 40,228.00 Grand Total: 442,508.00 = $9,708.38 (US$1 = 45.58PHP)
– The money has been transferred and is now in a US dollar account in the Philippines.
– I’ll share the project document once it’s final.
More when I have it…
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