MANILA, Philippines – Minnesota Vikings safety Cam Bynum is reconnecting with his Filipino roots in a very special way, as he is set to hold outreach activities in Baybay, Leyte later this month.
Baybay was badly hit by Typhoon Agaton in April, and Bynum will be working with Christian church New Life's project New Life Community Care to provide various needs to the victims of the calamity in the city.
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He has already donated $10,000 of his own money to help fund the activity.
"We're gonna be basically giving back to whatever needs that they need over there. We'll be delivering a bunch of food packs, a lot of fresh water, cooking, doing basically house packs and everything that they lost and all the resources that they weren't able to get being evacuated and being away from their homes," Bynum told the Philippine media in a press conference organized by Fil-Am Nation Select on Thursday.
"That's the main goal. Obviously [to] just show God's love to all the people out there," he added.
Bynum, who got drafted by the Vikings in 2021, was born to a US-born Filipino mother. His maternal grandparents were also born and raised in the Philippines.
Though having been in the US all his life, Bynum looks forward to tap into his Filipino heritage through this trip.
"[I'm] really close to my Filipino family, I see them multiple times a year. But in Southern California, there's not a lot of Filipinos, so I still had that disconnect of not growing up around a lot of them," said Bynum.
"I've never been to the Philippines... This will be my first time going out there," he continued.
It was poetic as well that Bynum's great grandmother was from Baybay, which the 23-year-old only found out after he had planned the whole thing.
Now, as he steps back from football for a couple of weeks, Bynum hopes to be able to touch the lives of his countrymen and link up with his Filipino side.
"The whole Filipino roots I'm finally being able to tap in with it, really go meet my family in the Philippines for the first time," he said.