In the aftermath of Typhoon Ketsana, World Vision's team in the Philippines has mobilized almost 500 volunteers within Manila simply by using Facebook.

"At the onset of the typhoon, the World Vision Philippines Facebook page posted photos of the flooding, and people immediately began to ask how they could help," explained Diwa Aquino-Gacosta, communications officer for the organization. “That gave our marketing team an idea to ask for volunteers for packing relief items.”

Volunteers of All Sorts
A large number of the eager volunteers were students whose classes had been cancelled for the week and were looking for ways to help. Young professionals and parents also came to assist.

"Many of the volunteers came from well-off families. It was really inspiring seeing them all repacking relief items and carrying sacks of rice," said Aquino-Gacosta.

The World Vision Philippines Facebook page was the focal point of the hastily arranged campaign to recruit volunteers, but the organization's staff also posted the appeal for volunteers on their own personal pages.

The organization continued to keep its supporters informed via Facebook, next posting photos of the agency's distribution of relief items by helicopter.

"We were the first group to do aerial distribution. Then people, mostly young people, started coming to our office and offering their help," said Aquino-Gacosta. "There are so many of them that we had to accept them in rotation, on a first-come-first-serve basis."

Supplies for Desperate Families
Each volunteer was given a brief orientation before being assigned to their task. They worked for one and a half hours and then rotated to a different task.

The volunteers were kept busy putting together relief packs containing rice, high-protein biscuits, candles, noodles packages, tins of sardines and bottled water. These packs are designed to feed a family of five for up to three days and supplement food provided by local government agencies.

"Some of them, especially the more able-bodied volunteers, would stay until midnight to pack goods. Without our volunteers, we could not have packed all the relief items ourselves," Aquino-Gacosta added.

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