Joanne McQuarrie, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
With the uncertainty of employment since the COVID-19 pandemic hit comes a limited budget for necessities including food, for many people.
And the Filipino community in Jasper is doing what it does best: Looking out for one another.
Hundreds of sacks of donated rice have been handed out to community members in Jasper - and the project has inspired a ripple effect through the province.
Kharisma Mair, a coordinator of the project, said: "No matter how difficult life is we'll come together as one. That has been our culture.
鈥淓ven when there's a calamity, there are smiles on people's faces because we know we can count on each other.鈥�
It all started when Mair got a call from Jerry Caingcoy, founder of The Filipino Champions of Canada based in Calgary, mid-May, who asked how the Filipino community in Jasper had been affected by the pandemic. He offered to pay for eight-kilogram sacks of rice to be distributed to them.
After getting the thumbs-up from the local immigration partnership coordinator, Douglas Olthof, Mair went ahead with arrangements to get the rice.
A volunteer group from the Jasper Filipino Community was formed quickly. In addition to Mair, the core group includes Cora Cuento, Daren de Guzman, Clara Adriano, Mike Oregines and Kathleen Bautista.
Their priority was to support local merchants and Mair connected with TGP to ask for a supply of 50 bags of rice in two days.
That was on May 19. The rice arrived on May 22 and was distributed on May 24 to members of the Filipino community.
A second locally sourced shipment of rice - 100 sacks - was then distributed on May 30.
"It was very helpful to us, and at the same time we were able to source locally," Mair said.
She said there are about 200 Filipino families in Jasper. Add single people to the family units and "it could be up to 500".
In distributing the sacks of rice, the volunteer group prioritized couples with children, then single moms, and then temporary foreign workers who hadn't received funds from the federal government.
"We wanted to reach out to everyone," Mair said. "That includes foreign workers who just arrived in Canada before the pandemic closed the borders."
Social media helped expedite distribution with Mair announcing the project and sharing a video to explain it in the Filipino Community Facebook group.
When the first time sacks of rice were given out, arrangements were made for them to be delivered per apartment block, at times posted.
Volunteers loaded the rice into their vehicles and went to the pre-arranged sites.
"People came outside to pick them up and we were able to finish in two hours," Mair said.
And the effectiveness and efficiency of the Jasper Filipino Community鈥檚 operation did not go unnoticed.
Between Caingcoy's call mid-May and when Jasper community members received bags of rice, there was an outpouring of support from the Filipino business sectors.
鈥淭hey were so impressed with how we organized it - they donated rice,鈥� said Mair.
"The thing we did in Jasper had a ripple effect. It was a team approach - working together for the same effort, instead of competing. Jasper became a model of an effective system."
The project has also stretched to Hinton, after a volunteer contacted the Jasper group asking for rice to give to the community there.
鈥淪he discovered there was a much larger need for rice than originally thought,鈥� Mair said.
鈥淪o I connected her and Jerry, who made arrangements to donate rice. By the end of May, there had been two shipments of rice arranged to give to Hinton.鈥�
And a 'meet-and-greet' with the Filipino group and other organizations from Calgary who donated rice, was staged at Lake Annette on June 6, in accordance with the protocol of 50 people per gathering maximum.
Donors from Calgary brought 100 bags of rice for Hinton and an extra 20 for Jasper.
Mair called the gathering a success.
鈥淚t was networking, and we connected with each other,鈥� she said.
"One of the biggest things was the 'Bayanihan' spirit - it's in the Filipino culture.
鈥淲e, as Filipino people, come together to help one another to achieve common, greater goals. It provides a culture of collaboration and empowerment of every individual.
鈥淚t wasn't a matter of sacrifice, it's the beautiful story behind it. The whole goal was the pioneering spirit."
