New Gilead Church donates to typhoon Haiyan victims in the Philippines

FACC president Malette Oliveros shown here with Clarence Cook and Gail Linker of New Gilead Reformed Church receiving their donation.

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

The New Gilead Reformed Church donated the proceeds of their lunch service to the victims of supertyphoon “Haiyan” in central Philippines last Sunday.

The church invited Dr. Malette Aquino-Oliveros, president of the Filipino-American Association of the Carolinas (FACC) to update the congregation on the status of the typhoon victims during their service.

Oliveros who assumed the FACC presidency last January read the report of the Catholic relief services on the needs of the victims and what had been done to rehabilitate the typhoon-hit areas. 

“I am nto going to sit here, I have to help. We really appreciate the help of everyone especially the prayers to provide for their spiritual needs,” Oliveros said.

Oliveros was introduced to the congregation by Clarence Cook as a dentist from the Philippines. Pastor Jeff Richards then talked about the gospel as intended for the world.  “The whole world desperately needs the gospel,” he said.

He continued to talk about the close relations between the US and Asian countries like the Philippines and then prayed for the Filipinos, the Americans and their leaders. 

“Watch over them and guide their thinking process,” Richards said. The second part of the Sunday invitation was the lunch service in which pinto beans, vegetable soup, corn bread and coleslaw were served.

Three months ago the Philippines was hit by supertyphoon Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda) that devastated towns and left hundreds dead and homeless. 

The plight of the victims drew assistance from all over the world, including North Carolina where the Fil-American community raised funds to support them.

Me with Jeff Richards, Pastor New Gilead Reformed Church, Clarence Cook and FACC president Malette Aquino-Oliveros