The Sisters of the Good Samaritan Foundation has launched an Emergency Appeal following the destruction caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi, which has battered communities on the island of Negros in the Philippines where long-standing ministries of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan are located.
By Debra Vermeer
Over the past fortnight, two typhoons have hit the Philippines: Typhoon Kalmaegi (known locally as Tino), which killed 224 people across the country, and Typhoon Fung-wong (known locally as Uwan), which has left four people dead. About 1 million people have been evacuated from their homes.
Even when the typhoons moved out to sea, a large portion of the country still faced heavy rains and severe winds, along with storm swells in coastal areas, SBS News reported. Fung-wong was the 21st storm to hit the Philippines this year
Image: Sisters of the Good Samaritan.
Many scholarship students, staff and families supported through the Foundation’s nutrition program live in the coastal squatter settlement of Boulevard, where homes have been destroyed and large sections of the community have been washed away. Families have been displaced, and many are now seeking makeshift shelter, with limited access to food, clean water and essential supplies.
Inland communities have also been affected, including the Sisters of the Good Samaritan Kinder School, where families are facing significant disruption.
For more than 25 years, the Sisters of the Good Samaritan have had a presence in Bacolod where they operate the Kinder School, an Outreach Center and associated ministries. They are providing emergency shelter, food and support for families in the squatter settlements whose homes have been lost or suffered significant damage.
The Good Samaritan Foundation’s Emergency Relief Appeal will provide assistance, including shelter materials, meals and assistance to rebuild homes.
Image: Sisters of the Good Samaritan.
The Foundation’s Executive Director, Sonya Mears, said donations to the appeal would find their way quickly to the local community. “Communications are difficult, with power and the internet down, but we know that many people have lost their home and all their possessions. It is really devastating for these communities,” she said.
Sonya said the funds raised in the appeal would directly help families already living with vulnerability to rebuild their communities. “Together we can offer our compassion and practical support,” she said.
Sister Grace Marcelo SGS has been spearheading the Sisters’ response to the disaster, organising shelter for families in the Good Samaritan Outreach Center. Sister Veronica Quinn SGS has also arrived from Australia to help out on the ground.
Grace shared a video of the battered neighbourhood in which the makeshift shanty homes can be seen reduced to floating sticks and debris as coastal surges continued to break over them.
Sister Anne Dixon SGS, who is a long-standing part of the ministry team in Bacolod and is currently on sabbatical in Melbourne, said three members of the Outreach Center team had their homes completely washed into the ocean at Boulevard.
“Many scholars’ families and nutrition program families had extensive damage,” she said. “Twelve families from the Good Samaritan Kinder School have damaged homes.”
Image: Sisters of the Good Samaritan.
Grace said members of the Outreach Center Team had interviewed more than 160 families and were distributing: housing materials for 114 families; 497 pieces of corrugated iron; 27 kilograms of nails; 493 pieces of building lumber and 360 pieces of plywood; 200 palm branches and more than 600 pieces of bamboo.
With the help of the Kinder School staff, scholars and volunteers they have packed 120 bags of rice for Kinder families and 1300 bags of rice for families in the Banago Area.
Grace said the team had also purchased hundreds of pairs of underwear and given away many items of clothing. “Our emergency supply will soon be exhausted,” she said. “People from the neighbourhood have been donating clothes as well.
Image: Sisters of the Good Samaritan.
“We are so grateful to everyone who is donating to the Foundation’s appeal. This will really help us to support local families in their emergency needs and to start rebuilding.”
Anne said the typhoon was the latest in a long line of adversities faced by the squatter families around Bacolod where a series of fires have destroyed many houses in recent years.
“As I have said many times before, the resilience and faith of these people is amazing, is staggering,” she said.
To make a donation, click here. Please select your donation amount, then select Philippines Emergency Appeal in the form’s dropdown menu. Donations over $2 are tax deductible in Australia.
This article was published in the November 2025 edition of The Good Oil.
Typhoon Tino destroyed homes on the island of Negros in the Philippines. Image: Sisters of the Good Samaritan.
