The Force for Good spirit remains strong here at Nu Skin, as we continue to give aid to all those affected by super typhoon Yolanda (International name: Haiyan) which swept over the eastern and central Visayas regions of the Philippines. Yolanda, one of the world’s strongest storms on record, tore across the country last November 8 claiming thousands of lives, affecting millions of people, and damaging billions worth of properties, livelihood and infrastructure.
In the past week, our Nu Skin family from around the globe continued to demonstrate astounding support for the super typhoon survivors as they try to recover from this tragic blow:
• Distributor leaders present in the Southeast Asia Regional Opportunity Summit pledged monetary donations and together pooled a total of USD $87,000. In addition, other distributor leaders from around the region donated a total of $36,962.
• Nu Skin Philippines and Indonesia Stars at the 2013 Star Academy in Bali pooled additional USD $12,000 worth of donations.
• Nu Skin Southeast Asia corporate employee donations totalled USD $48,968.
• In the previous week, over $200k were donated by the FFG Foundation, Nu Skin Japan and Nu Skin Greater China.
• Nu Skin Philippines distributors and their customers have donated 2,285 bags of VitaMeal, equivalent to over USD$61,000, since implementation of the 50 + 10 Matching Program.
• Php 200,000 has been donated to the American Chamber Foundation’s typhoon relief efforts.
• Convoy of Hope (a US corporate charity partner) is shipping a container of 6,000 VitaMeal bags from the U.S. to the Philippines.
• Feed the Children (FTC) has sent over 36,000 VitaMeal bags from China to Feed the Children Philippines.
• Globally, for every five bags of VitaMeal purchased, Nu Skin donates one bag. For this limited period, several markets are directing their 1 for 5 or 10 for 50 matches directly to the Philippines. In Southeast Asia alone, 33,000 bags equivalent to nearly USD$883,000 have been donated for the month of November.
• In-kind donations received at our Ortigas Walk-in Center will be forwarded to Caritas Manila for their typhoon relief efforts
Through your generous VitaMeal donations, our local partner Feed the Children Philippines (FTCP) was able to distribute 17,000 nourishing meals containing VitaMeal for the first leg of our typhoon relief efforts. Among areas fed were Hernani, McArthur and Basey in Samar, Ormoc, and Tacloban. Aside from distributing the hot meals, which were prepared on-site via mobile kitchens, the FTCP teams also assessed the status of the areas, and touched base with local partners to be able to conduct continuous VitaMeal feedings in the future.. Local partners consisted of local government units, parish churches, and colleges, among them Divine Word College and Tacloban Redemptorist Church, which were taught how to prepare VitaMeal and were left with VitaMeal bags and ingredients to sustain their community after FTCP’s meal distribution.
The second leg of VitaMeal feeding and relief started last November 28, with 24 new areas determined for feeding sites spread across the provinces of Leyte, Eastern Samar, North Cebu, Capiz, and Iloilo. The target for this leg is to distribute 720,000 meals over the course of a month until December 31, and set up feeding stations in those areas.
It is not over yet. The NTC Vitameal 50+10 matching program will continue until December. But already I would like to thank you all for your kindness and generosity. May you be blessed a thousand fold!
Sincerely,
Melisa Tantoco Quijano
President
Southeast Asia Region and Pacific Region