Local personalities from the entertainment and music industry are using their star power to help and support vulnerable sectors such as the urban poor and daily wage earners affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the implementation of enhanced community quarantine.
Popular vlogger Mimiyuuuh will hold a free online Zumba class through Instagram Live this Friday at 6:00 p.m. to help raise funds for two non-profit organizations, Caritas Manila and the Save San Roque Alliance.
Every view will count as P2-worth of donation to support the organizations in their respective efforts to help impoverished families and communities in Metro Manila.
Caritas Manila is the lead social service and development ministry of the Catholic Church while Save San Roque Alliance is an organization advocating for housing rights of the urban poor.
Indie band Ben&Ben will also hold an online fundraising concert through Facebook Live this Friday at 7:00 p.m. titled “Puhon: A Ben&Ben FB Live Event for the COVID-19 Efforts.”
It aims to benefit frontliners in the health sector and street vendors in Manila.
The funds will be used to procure personal protective equipment suits, COVID-19 test kits and provide nutritional support to health workers and food packs to families of street vendors.
The band’s online concert will also serve as a launch pad for their community-initiative website, Puhon, that aims to inspire, uplift and boost the collective morale of key stakeholders of the COVID-19 response through stories, music, art and more.
Ryan Cayabyab and other local musicians have also pitched in to raise funds for urban poor communities in various parts of Metro Manila with the on-going “Bayanihan Musikahan” series where artists hold free concerts through Facebook Live.
It started on March 23 and will continue until April 15 in which Filipinos can watch three to five concerts a day.
The March 27 lineup include girl group and “X Factor” finalist 4th Impact, singers Jacky Chang, Jewel Villaflores and Dingdong Avanzado.
Past performers include Bullet Damas, Gloc-9, Jim Paredes, Morissette Amon, Martin Nievera, Ebe Dancel, Chito Miranda, Nyoy Volante, Ice Seguerra, Juris and Sponge Cola, among others.
While the concerts are free, Filipinos are encouraged to donate to the program’s partner, the Philippine Business for Social Progress, which will then purchase food packs and health supplies to be given to the impoverished with the help of non-profit organizations.
“Phenomenal Star” Maine Mendoza also launched “DoNation Drive” that seeks to benefit daily wage earners who are not able to report to work because of the enhanced community quarantine.
Through the initiative, she will send P1,000 per family household for their grocery needs and other essentials.
She added that beneficiaries include public utility drivers of tricycles, jeepneys and buses, construction workers, street and market vendors, laundrywomen and those who can only afford to survive on a day-to-day basis.
Filipinos can send their donations of any amount through “DoNation Drive’s” G-Cash account.
Kapamilya actress Bela Padilla also spearheaded her own fundraising campaign, “Pagkain Para sa Pinoy,” that aimed to deliver packaged goods to street vendors in Metro Manila.
She was able to raise more than her projected amount of one million pesos—P3.3 million in just three days.
Padilla went to various parts of the metro with the coordination of local government units, some private companies, fellow actor Matteo Guidicelli and celebrity manager Pia Campos to personally distribute the goods.
She previously said that she is willing to spearhead another batch of fundraising drive in cooperation with the Philippine Army if the public can help her raise donations.
Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray also partnered with charitable organization Young Focus Foundation Philippines to provide food for families in the Smokey Mountain area whose income had been affected by the Luzon-wide quarantine.
Their first initiative is to collect funds so that they could distribute 15 kilograms of rice that can sustain each family.
People can donate sacks of rice directly to the organization or funds via bank transfer.
Gray previously tapped Young Focus Foundation before her Miss Universe stint to help her provide free and accessible education to Filipino children.
Guidicelli also initiated a separate online fundraiser through “One Voice Pilipinas,” a concert streamed through Facebook Live on March 22, Sunday, that aimed to provide food for impoverished families affected by the quarantine.
The livestream featured performances from his wife Sarah Geronimo and other artists such as Kean Cipriano, Joey Generoso, Janine Tenoso, Jason Dy, Jed Madela and Kylie Verzosa.
Guidicelli, who is an Army reservist, coordinated with the Philippine Army and Landers Supermarket for the initiative.
He added that he plans to hold more similar events in the coming days and invite more Kapamilya stars like Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano.