Victim Services: Resources are available through the VPD Victim Services Unit: 604-717-2737 and VictimLinkBC: call or text 1-800-563-0808, or email 211-victimlinkbc@uwbc.ca or can be found at: Filipino Emergency Response.
Several local Filipino organizations are hosting an event to pack care packages for Filipino first responders in light of the recent Lapu Lapu Day tragedy.
Eleven people were killed – seven women, two men, one non-binary person and a five-year-old girl – and at least two dozen more were injured, ranging in age from 22 months old to 60 years old, when a person drove an SUV through the crowd at the Vancouver festival on Saturday, April 26.
Volunteers will pack the care packages on Sunday, May 4, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Gong Cha Surrey Central (Unit 1014 10294 City Pkwy). Then from 4- 5 p.m. the care packages will be handed out.
"We are continuing a tradition we began on Valentine’s Day: assembling care packages for Filipino workers, this time with a focus on frontline and first responders," reads the event page. "This gathering is more than a volunteer effort. It is a chance to be present with each other, create hand-made cards and messages, assemble care packages filled with items like mandarins, SkyFlakes, and other comfort snacks, and share community resources that remind our kababayans: you are not alone."
Those who wish to volunteer can register for free.
The organizations, along with Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights, helped organize a vigil at Holland Park (13428 Old Yale Road) on Wednesday evening.
