Diocese of Alaminos – COVID-19 Love Packs

Introduction:

Alaminos City in Pangasinan is endowed with a diversity of coastal and marine resources, with the residents’ major sources of income being fishing and eco-tourism (one of the highlights is the famous Hundred Islands National Park). Despite this God-given natural beauty of the place, they are still considered a 4th income class city with a 15% poverty incidence in 2015 and still increasing. Due to lack of job opportunities of the place, residents would tend to go to the big city (Manila) to seek greener pastures.

As COVID-19 hits Pangasinan, it had resulted in many financial and health challenges. Tourism has abruptly stopped; fishing jobs have ceased and agri-businesses have slowed down. All of these have been painfully experienced by each household. Even the locals who worked outside of Pangasinan are back home and some are planning to return home, as most of them are retrenched or laid off from their jobs due to the economic recession. Due to limited or no resources that are coming to these families, we are afraid that this will cause multiple problems such as hunger and malnutrition, as well as an increase in crime rate, mental health issues, and stressful marital relationships (that would also lead to poor parenting). All these can really take a toll on a person’s life if no help arrives.

Beneficiaries:

3,000 pre-qualified indigent families located specifically in these following 21 Parishes:

Vicariate I

• St. Raymond the Penafort  Parish – Mangatarem, Pangasinan
• Divine Mercy Parish – Bugtong Bolo, Mangatarem, Pangasinan
• St. Joseph the Patriarch Parish – Aguilar, Pangasinan
• St. Andrew the Apostle Parish – Bugallon, Pangasinan
• Our Lady of Lourdes Parish – Salasa, Bugallon, Pangasinan

Vicariate II

• St. John the Evangelist Parish – Infanta, Pangasinan
• St. Raphael the Archangel Parish – Eguia, Dasol, Pangasinan
• St. Vincent Ferrer Parish – Dasol, Pangasinan
• St. Isidore the Farmer Parish – Burgos, Pangasinan
• St. Peter the Apostle Parish  – Pogoruac, Burgos, Pangasinan

Vicariate III

• James the Great Parish – Bolinao, Pangasinan
• Divine Savior Parish – Santiago, Bolinao
• Our Lady of the Pillar Parish – Zaragoza, Bolinao
• St. Nicholas de Tolentino Parish – Anda, Pangasinan
• Immaculate Concepcion Parish – Bani, Pangasinan
• St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish – Agno, Pangasinan

Vicariate IV

• St. Joseph Cathedral Parish – Alaminos  City, Pangasinan
• St. Mark the Evangelist Parish – Alos, Alaminos City, Pangasinan
• St. Peter the Martyr Parish – Sual, Pangasinan
• Sto. Nino Parish – Mabini, Pangasinan

Program Implementation:

To answer the plight of the poor and needy, the Archdiocese of Alaminos PDO proactively gathered 65 volunteers to help distribute Love Packs for this project, reaching out to the 3,000 indigent families. We are touching your kind hearts to please help this cause and let us be the instruments to let the poor and needy feel that they are valued and worthy of our love.

Budget:

Each Love Pack contains the following items below, which are the immediate needs of the 3,000 families. Our parishes could hardly make both ends meet because our activities and celebrations are suspended in order to stop the possible spread of COVID-19.