VOLLEYBALL Community Gives Back to the Philippines (VCGBPH) is an organization led by various volleyball players in their effort to unite the community during times of adversities.
The organization was formed in the wake of Supertyphoon Yolanda’s destruction in 2013, where it raised monies to be donated to the victims in Tacloban.
The group—led by Gretchen Ho, Charo Soriano, Alyssa Valdez, Dzi Gervacio and Amy Ahomiro—has since been raising funds to help other communities such as those affected in the Marawi City siege in 2017, Typhoon Lawin in 2018 and most recently, the Taal Volcano eruption in January.
This time around, VCGBPH is organizing a fund-raising to #ServeOurFrontliners: Raffle for Heroes. The group met through Zoom last Saturday to talk about ways on how to produce personal protective equipment (PPEs) for medical frontliners—real-life heroes who are doing a valiant battle against coronavirus (Covid-19).
“I read the news everyday about the battles of our doctors, nurses, health workers and frontliners. And I wanted to help them, to ease their pain, their burden. So I was speaking with Pablo Cabahug about his efforts to produce PPEs in his shop. And he mentioned that they are having difficulty sourcing materials. So I contacted Ate Cha and said it’s time we revive VCGBPH,” Valdez said.
VCGBPH is eyeing to produce initial 2,500 PPEs but it hopes to make more for the frontliners.
“We want to do our part, as much as we can. We contacted the rest of our group and planned on how to produce PPEs in the quickest time possible. Most of the suppliers of PPEs that we contacted can only deliver in two to three weeks,” Soriano said. “So one option that we thought of is to buy the raw materials and give them to the numerous sewers and designers. This way, we can produce of PPEs as soon as possible, and daily, too.”
“In serving our frontliners, we came up with the concept of doing bundle raffles, with memorabilia from our players including jerseys, training shirts, shoes and the like. The idea behind this is to generate as many raffle bundles as possible,” Ahomiro said.
The raffle tickets cost P300 each and the more one buys, the more chances of him or her winning, according to Ahomiro.
“Players from PSL [Philippine Superliga], PVL [Premiere Volleyball League] and UAAP [University Athletic Association of the Philippines] are all coming together and pledging their memorabilia for this cause,” she added.
The other players who committed to the Raffle for Heroes are Amanda Villanueva, Nicole Tiamzon, Kathy Bersola, AJ Pareja, Tatan Gata-Pantone, Sue Roces, Sasa Devanadera, Thang Ponce, Jen Nierva, Jen Reyes, Kath Arado, Ella de Jesus, Sisi Rondina, Bernadeth Pons and Dennise Lazaro.
Visit Volleyball Community Give Back on Facebook and
@vcgbph on Instagram and Twitter for details on how to join the Raffle for Heroes.