Locals hosted a dinner to help raise money for Typhoon Haiyan survivors Sunday.

Sunday’s dinner event was held at the Oak Crest Retirement Center, 2944 Greenwood Acres Drive. The event was hosted by the Filipino-American Association of Northern Illinois.

Evelina Cichy, a member of the association, helped run the event.

“I was looking at pictures and watching the news, and I think I cried every day,” Cichy said. “On that Wednesday we called in a meeting and we said we have to do something, but timing was short.”

With Thanksgiving break, Cichy didn’t have much time to plan and worked to have the dinner ready for Monday. The dinner featured opening prayers followed by traditional Filipino food.

Melissa Cardella, a Philippine Student Association member and freshman communication major, felt a need to help out.

“I decided to help in this event because I have family in the Philippines, and being part of PSA I knew it was really important to take your own time to help others,” Cardella said.

Similarly, Paula Villaos, treasurer of the Philippine Student Association and sophomore pre-physical major, said she thinks the dinner will help the survivors.

“The goal tonight is to volunteer and help as much as we can because the typhoon was a really big hit,” Villaos said. “We want to do whatever we can to help.”

There is one last event, the Filipino Spirit is “Waterproof” talent showcase 7 to 9 p.m. Dec. 4 in Cole Hall. If students can’t attend but still want to help they can donate clothing and dry goods to the Asian American Center.

“I think that there was so much support and concern from the community,” Cichy said. “We just felt that our group had to help out and that we couldn’t sit still and not do anything.”