First we would like to say that Atmosphere had a lucky escape from Typhoon Haiyan and so did most of the island. We had dark skies, rain and a strong breeze resulting in some cancelled flights and boat dives, but no damage and we are very grateful that our guests were so understanding of the situation.
Luckily for us, it did not get worse than this outside Atmosphere…
The storm that spared us did however leave immense damage on other islands. We asked ourselves how we could help and we decided to use some of our Gives Forward funds for typhoon relief, as well as collecting donations from guests and staff.
Together with a couple of other resorts in Dauin, we sent two trucks up to Malapascua north of Cebu with a load of heavy machinery and building material.
Tarpaulins, chainsaws and other aid coming off our trucks!
Atmosphere staff has collected clothing (see picture 3), and yoga fees have been used to contribute. We will soon send out more relief aid in the shape of building material and machines and if you would like to help, please contact Gabrielle or Rae at gabrielle@atmosphereresorts.com or rae@atmosphereresorts.com.
The best thing you can do to help support the Philippines, is to keep travelling to unaffected areas. Tourist money is relied upon to maintain the country’s infrastructure, please remember that most places are still operating and were not affected by the typhoon. We look forward to seeing you here!
We have set up a charity that has already collected close to 3000 USD but unfortunately our PayPal account was closed down due to all the activity. We have therefore decided to use another way to raise money for our next trip to Malapascua. For now, we will use Atmosphere’s Gives Forward bank account for donations. Our Gives Forward program funds our Soup Kitchen and other activities surrounding the soup kitchen and for now some of this money will be used for typhoon relief aid:
Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)
Dgte. San Jose Branch, Units 1&2, Uy Matiao Building, San Jose Street, Dumaguete City
Account Name: ATA DAUIN REALTY Corp
Account Number: 9211-0025-03
Thank you!
(Thank you to Mark Phillips for the photos taken while distributing the aid)
