Typhoon Haiyan is said to be the strongest windstorm to ever make landfall. Imagine you had to face days of uncertainty, knowing that your family had been in the path of such a storm.
That was what early November was for Midway resident Elnora Faminoff. She said the typhoon struck on Nov. 7 our time. She spent days on the computer searching for people who might have news from her family.
But it wasn’t until after 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 12 that she got a phone call from a newscaster who had visited her family’s village of Cambulao Alangalang, Leyte and could give her the good news that, while their houses were flattened, her family was safe and uninjured.
“For days I was waiting and waiting trying to get ahold of them,” she recalled. “I was a mess. At my work I couldn’t concentrate. I was worried
sick.”
The Midway Community Hall was full on Saturday night as a fundraising dinner was held to benefit her family’s community. There were a number of Filipino items on the menu including a noodle dish known as pancit and adobo chicken—a marinade dish that according to Wikipedia is sometimes considered as the unofficial national dish of the Philippines.
The dinner was organized by Thinh Atkinson and Anna Danyluk, both 17-year-old BCSS seniors. The Girl Guides helped serve. Many members of the Filipino community from Osoyoos to Grand Forks came out to prepare the meal.
Tickets were $10 each and all 150 were sold. Just over $1,000 was brought in through bake sales and donations.
Thinh said they were moved to organize the dinner on behalf of Elnora Faminoff’s family, who literally lost everything. “Their house was destroyed, all their animals were gone,” Thinh said in an interview. “Fortunately they were not hurt.”
Anna and Thinh wanted to say thank you to the Filipino ladies and everyone who donated money and came out.
“To see everyone coming from different communities for one cause —that’s good,” said Thinh. The money will go to help rebuild the community where Elnora’s family lives. All 300 residents were left without shelter when their 160 homes were destroyed.
Special thanks go to the following that helped make the dinner a success: Elnora Faminoff, Nora Manning, Susan Auger, Betty and Cliff Thorton, Emma Nelson, Stan Nelson, Cora Kulh, Jmart Gonzaga, Vanessa Thorton, Amy Zeman, Thao Atkinson, Kim Faminoff, Jada Goodson, Joy Riley, Mark Danyluk, Elaine Fromme, Sue Fielding and Chris Danyluk.