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SALT LAKE CITY — Three brothers are heading to the Philippines to help build 3,000 homes in an area devastated by Typhoon Haiyan.
The trio is hoping they will literally be able to give people in the Philippines the tools to build homes. They plan to help train locals in home construction and leave behind the equipment they bring. The brothers will be leaving on Saturday to spend two weeks in Tacloban.
“We’ll go for two weeks, but what we’re trying to do is train the people of the Philippines to build these homes and become carpenters and actually become self-reliant,” said Mason Bates. “We’ll leave all of our equipment and tools with them.”
The brothers will be joining a group of men who served their LDS Church missions in the Philippines. Bates' brother, Eric, served his mission there and because the family is close-knit, when a friend approached him at work about the project the other brothers decided they wanted to help as well.
The men are paying their own way to get to the Philippines, but organized a fundraiser on Give Forward to help purchase tools they can pass on to locals. Bates said his family has received an outpouring of support since they announced they were raising money to help build homes in the Philippines.
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Sister Bendoy lost her parents, siblings and house to Typhoon Haiyan.“I had a knock on my door last night and it was three little kids in my neighborhood with their mom,” he said. “The three kids passed me an envelope and the kids said it was their birthday money and they wanted to give it to the Philippines.”
While they don't know if two weeks will be long enough to build all of the 3,000 homes, they hope they can train enough people to allow people living in the Philippines to carry-on the work after they leave.
“I’m a big believer in self-reliance,” Bates said. “I definitely know that at times everybody needs a helping hand, but I’m a big believer of this program because we’re helping but at the same time we’re also helping them help themselves."
Typhoon Haiyan was one of the most powerful typhoons ever and displaced more than four million people after it hit in November 2013. There were more than 5,700 people killed and 1,700 people still missing a month after the storm, according to the Associated Press.
Even though people in the Philippines are still struggling because of the devastation, Bates said Americans don't hear about their stories in the mainstream media much anymore so he wanted to raise awareness.
“There is just not a lot of money over there right now and if we can better somebody’s life by giving them some training, plus give them a home and help them rebuild what has been lost, I think that could be really beneficial for them,” he said.
Donations can be made through Give Forward until Friday. The brothers will use 100 percent of the money to buy supplies in the Philippines, Bates said.
