Niles Filipino Shipping Company Collecting Food For Typhoon Aftermath

Written by Pam DeFiglio

Alex Cirera is used to boxes. His business, Cirera Express, ships oversized care packages from Filipino Americans to their relatives in the Philippines.

But this week, there are so many boxes there's hardly room to step through the front office of Cirera Express, located in an industrial park on Howard Street in Niles, near Morton Grove and Skokie. 

"Because of the calamity (Typhoon Haiyan) in the Philippines, we volunteered," Cirera said. "If people can drop off supplies, we'll ship them for free."

Alpha Nicolasin, the customer service supervisor, explained, "We already have the infrastructure and a system. That's what we do. We're blocking off space in the container we're shipping." 

The company's business is based on the custom of Filipinos sending balikbayan boxes to their relatives in the homeland. The boxes contain food, toiletries, household items and clothing, and are more than just goods--they keep up emotional and family ties with relatives back in the economically struggling Asian nation, Filipinos say. 

Earlier: Businesses Competing To Attract Filipinos Sending Money, Goods Home

Anyone is welcome to stop by the Cirera office before 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16 to drop off donations for typhoon victims. Toiletries/hygiene items and non-perishable food are what's needed most, Nicolasin said. They are asking people not to donate any more clothing.

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A story on WBEZ Radio, and another in the Chicago Tribune, have prompted people to drop off donations, but if they get too many to fit in this container, they'll ship them in the next one, Nicolasin said. 

Keep in mind that the boxes will take five weeks to arrive; they're trucked to a Joliet railyard, put on a train for California, then shipped by sea to Taiwan and transferred to smaller ships bound for the Philippines.

The office is located at 5657 Howard Street in an industrial park. It's not actually on Howard, but three rows of buildings south of Howard, near Central. 

They're shipping the boxes to the ABS-CBN Foundation in Quezon City, Philippines. It's the charitable arm of a broadcast news network, whose reporters get into the barrios and find out what's happening there faster than the government can, they explain.

"They have a foundation that addresses the needs of the victims of calamities," Nicolasin said. "We chose them because of the level of transparency the foundation has, and also their credibility and the efficiency by which they deliver the goods."

Asked why the Philippines has experienced so many calamities lately, Cirera and Nicolasin blame geography. The island nation is in Typhoon Alley as well as the Ring of Fire, which makes it prone to earthquakes, they said.