Pinoy troopers and pirates: Allies for Yolanda aid

It’s Friday night at upscale Bonifacio High Street. You’re tired from a long day at work, happy to hang out with your friends for some drinks, or doing a little bit of shopping, because you deserve a treat for surviving the week. As you’re walking, minding your own business, you see us. White helmets and tricorn hats. Cutlasses and blasters. Capes and puffy sleeves? Pirates and stormtroopers! And Batman, too!

And we want your money. Hands up! This is a fundraiser.

Pinoy costumers for Yolanda aid

On November 22, the Philippine Outpost of the 501st Legion teamed up with the Dark Knight from Gotham City and the Pirates of Black Pearl Philippines (BPP) for a special mission, code-named 'Troopers for Typhoon Survivors.' Troopers aims to collect donations to aid families affected by Typhoon Yolanda.

With Heroes Concept Store on Bonifacio High Street as our headquarters, our stormtroopers, clones and biker scouts, the BPP pirates and a Caped Crusader, posed for photos with passersby, who were eager to hand over their money for a picture and a chance to help.

For a recommended donation of P50, the costumed characters posed for pictures with kids, grandparents, boys and girls, and even one very fluffy dog. For P100, we gave donors a printout of their photo. Volunteers collected donations, made sure people were lined up in an orderly fashion, printed the photos and invited the crowds to meet and greet their favorite heroes. But many people happily gave more than P100 as their donation.

In one night, we raised P18,000.

Pirates and troopers band together

The 501st Legion is an international organization of Star Wars fans who wear the costumes of the bad guys. Called ‘Bad guys who do good,’ the 501st troops worldwide raise funds for charity, especially for children’s causes. Represented locally by the Philippine Outpost, the Legion works year-round to collect donations in cash and in kind. Hospital visits and fun runs are all in a day’s work for us.

Initially a ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ fan club, Black Pearl Philippines is a pirate costuming club founded by writer Karen Kunawicz. The Philippine Outpost frequently collaborates with Black Pearl Philippines for events and fundraisers. Together, our two organizations support the students of Silahis ng Kalusugan, a school for the young patients of the Philippine General Hospital.

Deployment to Cebu

In addition to the photo fundraiser, the donations extend to and from 501st members and friends worldwide. Our collections have reached almost US$3,500, with donations coming in from Sweden, Norway, Germany, Poland, Japan, the US, and around the Philippines.

Some of the funds raised were sent to aid another fan club, Star Wars Cebu. Their members, led by husband and wife team Chris and Pamela Bacus, have brought relief packages to far-flung areas in Northern Cebu. Titled ‘Operation New Hope,’ the Bacus family and other members of Star Wars Cebu have been working nonstop to bring food and other much-needed supplies to various areas.

Philippine Outpost member Dexter Enriquez flew to Cebu with his armor, hoping to bring cheer and new hope to the families who lost everything in the super typhoon. Posing in his clone trooper armor, Enriquez joined Star Wars Cebu’s distribution trips to the hardest hit parts of Northern Cebu. The debris and destruction seemed to fade in the background as small children flocked to hug our lone trooper. Mothers stepped out of their meager shelters, babes in their arms, smiling as they received food and supplies from this armored character from another galaxy.

Stormtroopers help UP students

In addition to Operation New Hope, the Philippine Outpost is also allocating funds to the students of the University of the Philippines.

Nearly 100 students in the Diliman campus have been identified as hailing from Tacloban and the other Visayas provinces hit by Yolanda. These students lost their loved ones and their homes in the tragic storm; one student lost his entire family. With no families to support them, they now have no means to pay for their tuition, dorms, books or even daily meals. UP alumni from Diliman and other campuses, based both here and abroad, decided to help these students.

The funds gathered for this cause will also help the students from UP Tacloban, who will be cross-registering in the Diliman campus.

Spend Sunday with a stormtrooper and C-3PO

If you missed our deployment to Bonifacio High Street, don’t worry! The troopers and the pirates have a new mission, this time in Alabang Town Center! Come Sunday, December 1, the helmeted heroes and savvy pirates will be joined by new characters: a Dalek from Doctor Who, nervous protocol droid C-3PO, some Jedi and perhaps an elf or two.

The fundraiser on December 1, ’Jolly Roger Rogers Photo Fundraising,’ will support the UP students affected by Typhoon Yolanda, as well as Ayala Malls’ Bulig Bisaya campaign. So spend your Sunday with the costumed heroes, and you not only get a new profile pic for your social network accounts, but you get to help others too. — VC, GMA News


For more information, visit pinoy501st.com and jollyrogerrogers.com.