DSWD-7: Please don’t donate unusable items

NAGA LANDSLIDE / September 23, 2018: Donations for the landslide victims keep pouring in at Naga Cityhall.
(CDN photo/ Christian Maningo)

THE top official of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas (DSWD-7) has appealed to the public not to donate unusable items to the landslide victims in Naga City, south Cebu.

This, after DSWD-7 Director Ma. Evelyn Macapobre found out that some donated items included stained clothes that can no longer be used by the victims.

“Again, let us preserve the dignity of the displaced families, so I am earnestly requesting the public to donate only usable things,” Macapobre said in a statement.

Macapobre also emphasized that cleanliness, proper hygiene and sanitation should also be observed even during disasters so as to prevent diseases from spreading especially in packed evacuation centers.

Donating unusable items, she said, is also an added burden to social workers and volunteers who now have to sort out donations that are still useful for the victims.

During the Incident Command meeting last Monday (Sept. 24), donated items like secondhand clothing for the displaced families are being discouraged.

Instead, donors are asked to give clean sets of new clothes and undergarments.

According to DSWD-7, items such as hygiene kits, milk, school supplies, blankets, mats, pillows, children’s diapers and adult underwear are the immediate needs of the victims being housed in at least seven evacuation centers in Naga City.

Donations of eco-bags and big plastic boxes are also welcomed.

All donations should pass through the donations desk being put up inside the Naga City Hall.

Those who want to conduct feeding programs for the affected residents, the DSWD-7 advised possible donors to first inform the donation desk for the schedule of the activity.