Help Yolanda survivors this summer, youth urged

MANILA, Philippines - Instead of going to outings with friends this summer, the youth should make their vacation worthwhile by engaging in activities that would benefit the victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda and other calamities, a Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) official said yesterday.

Fr. Conegundo Garganta of the  CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Youth (ECY) said the youth could help rehabilitate areas hit by calamities in the Visayas, Bohol, and Zamboanga. He said there are many ways to get involved and young people should not waste their vacation.              

For his part, CBCP National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace executive secretary Fr. Edu Gariguez said they will work with the CBCP-ECY to tap young Filipinos for volunteer work during the school break.

“When it comes to the involvement of the youth, this would trigger their social involvement so they would not spend most of their time in purely gimmick,” he said.

Gariguez expressed the belief there is a need to improve the social commitment of the young. “Extending support for the people should be developed even at a young age,” he said.