7 January 2021, Calgary – While most Filipino families in Calgary were not able to go out and enjoy the recent Christmas holiday the usual way due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 30 Filipino families received Christmas care kits that were delivered right at their doorsteps, brightening up their Christmas celebration.
The care kits were distributed by the Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Calgary and the Vancouver-based Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
The recipients of the care kits were Filipino workers and their families who have recently moved to Calgary and are being assisted by the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association (CIWA) while they are settling down in the city. A CIWA representative delivered the Christmas care kits to the individual residences of the Filipino families.
CIWA, a non-profit organization that manages a Filipino Community Development Program, is one of the PCG’s partners in Calgary.
In the early part of 2020, the PCG, POLO and OWWA also reached out to Filipino temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in Alberta and Saskatchewan who were displaced from work due to the pandemic, to inform them about the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment’s one-time financial assistance program known as DOLE-AKAP. A total of 293 Filipino TFWs in Alberta and Saskatchewan received USD $200.00 each under the DOLE-AKAP program last year.