Diego Dario has witnessed the shortage of personal protective equipment available for the country’s health workers in the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“I have a friend who contracted the coronavirus. Frontliner siya at Makati Medical Center. He was able to recover from it, but he told me a story that they didn’t have enough PPEs,” said the 23-year-old guard, who plays for PBA club Blackwater.
“Clearly, there’s a shortage of PPEs.”
It made the University of the Philippines product realize two things.
First off, he needed to do his part to help them out. More importantly, any and all help matters for our frontliners.
“That made me realize that I need to do my part to help out kahit maliit lang. Malaking tulong daw sa kanila every help they can get,” continued the former Batang Gilas guard.
Last week, Dario started a fundraiser with a goal of reaching PHP 50,000 to purchase face masks and protective suits.
He was able to hit the mark later this week and purchase the PPEs.
“I’m done na with the first 50,000. I ordered na the first batch of face masks and suits early today. That was around 500 face masks and almost 50 suits,” shared Dario.
And Dario is not stopping just yet.
There are other public hospitals that lack resources to supply staff with protective suits, leaving them vulnerable to the coronavirus. And in the next wave of his drive, helping them is Dario’s goal.
“Of course. As much as I can help, I will do so. I have a lot of time din nowadays. After workouts, I check social media and I see a lot of stories there,” said Dario.
“For the next 50,000, I plan to help out ‘yung other hospitals that don’t have enough resources like in Caloocan and Sta. Ana.”
Besides this, he is also helping out his friend Jo Gamos of Tara Baraha raise funds to purchase relief packs for vulnerable communities. Each bag contains PHP 1,000 worth of food that will last a week or two depending on the size of the family.
Seeing all the donors that helped out — may it be PHP 10 to 10,000 — Dario can’t help but feel amazed with how everyone has come together during these trying times.
“There are a lot of good souls out there. It’s overwhelming that everyone wants to help. ‘Yung mga little help goes a long way.”
To help out Dario’s drive, one can deposit either through G-Cash (09565275610) or BPI (account name: Diego Miguel Dario, account number: 4489069232).
