The owners of a busy East Side coffee shop donated their profits from last Monday for relief efforts to help people hit by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
Wayne Bertrand, who runs the Laughing Bean Café in Hastings-Sunrise with his wife Rebecca, did the same thing after the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 and the Haiti earthquake three years ago, and said they want to make it as easy as possible for their customers to help out those in desperate need.
“We just felt like we needed to do something,” he said. “I find that people are often looking for a focal point to do something and instead of oh, I should go to the Red Cross or I should go to a website and click, we just figured this is a way for people not to have to do anything different. Just have your coffee and maybe have an extra muffin or something or bring a friend.”
Bertrand said they hope to raise $2,500, which will be closer to $5,000 in aid because the federal government has pledged to match all individual donations to the Canadian Red Cross until Dec. 9 in addition to $20 million earmarked for humanitarian aid.
The café is just one of many examples of Metro Vancouver residents, which includes approximately 75,000 people of Filipino descent, doing what they can to help survivors of the Nov. 8 typhoon, which killed at least 3,976 people and left nearly 1,600 missing.
Laughing Bean customers J.R. Guerrero and Catherine Luk were working on their laptops planning their own personal fundraising events when the Courier stopped by. Luk said she was trying to confirm a venue to host an art exhibit and live performances Nov. 27 while Guerrero, a lifeguard who immigrated from the Philippines two decades ago and returns each year, is helping to put on a concert tonight (Nov. 20) at the Libra Room on Commercial Drive featuring musicians Jun Clement, Speakerbox and Groove n Tonic.
“It’s amazing that there has been this massive outpouring of concern and support for what happened,” said Guerrero. “The implications of the typhoon are so great it leads to conversations about what our responsibilities are from wealthier nations and how we need to help developing nations and how much we wealthier nations consume.”
On the other side of the city the same night, the Dunbar Theatre is donating its revenue from screenings of How I Live Now and Gravity. Additional donations will be accepted on site and donations of more than $20 will be issued tax receipts.
For those who prefer not to make donations online, the non-profit social service group SUCCESS is accepting money at its 28 W. Pender St. office and other locations across the Lower Mainland, as are all City of Vancouver community centres.
“A tragedy on this scale is unimaginable,” said Vision Vancouver park board commissioner Trevor Loke in a release announcing the donation drive. “We urge residents to give what they can to help emergency response efforts and bring hope to the region.”
