On the morning of October 20, 2025, the usually quiet banks of Ilugin Creek in Barangay Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City, bustled with activity. Workers in reflective vests, city officials, and an array of heavy machinery converged for a common cause: cleaning up the city’s waterways. This was no ordinary municipal operation. It was part of the national "Bayanihan sa Estero" initiative, a government-led program aimed at tackling flooding and disease by restoring the health of Metro Manila’s most vulnerable creeks and rivers.
According to the Manila Bulletin, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Don Artes and Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto personally oversaw the operation. In just the first few hours, dozens of sacks filled with water hyacinths were hauled from the creek, a testament to both the scale of the problem and the determination of the cleanup crew. With the help of a trash skimmer, crane, backhoe, and dump truck, the team made quick work of the floating debris and garbage that had choked Ilugin Creek—one of the 23 priority waterways identified by the MMDA for immediate action.
But the day’s efforts didn’t end with trash collection. Recognizing the link between stagnant, polluted water and mosquito-borne diseases, authorities also conducted anti-dengue misting and defogging operations in the surrounding area. “We target to clean and monitor 273 waterways across Metro Manila, with 23 of those considered as priority areas,” Artes explained, underscoring the breadth of the agency’s ambition.
This wasn’t Pasig City’s first foray into innovative environmental management. Just ten days prior, the city government, in partnership with the MMDA and the Asian Development Bank, launched "Clearbot," an artificial intelligence–powered robotic vessel. The solar-powered machine, designed to clear floating waste and invasive water hyacinths from esteros connected to the Pasig River, represents the city’s push toward technological solutions for urban environmental challenges. As Mayor Sotto highlighted, "The project highlights the importance of continuous innovation in working toward cleaner rivers, better waterways, and a healthier environment for the people."
While Metro Manila’s waterways face chronic pollution and flooding, the summer of 2025 brought a different kind of water crisis to Texas’s Hill Country. Over the Fourth of July weekend, the Guadalupe River surged an astonishing 26 feet in less than an hour after heavy thunderstorms battered the region. The result was catastrophic: at least 135 people, including 37 children, lost their lives in what has become the deadliest inland flood event in the United States since 1976, as reported by NPQ and the Los Angeles Times.
Many of the victims were young girls whose summer camp cabins were located in designated flood zones along the river. The tragedy sent shockwaves across the border, mobilizing volunteers from both the United States and Mexico. Among the first to respond was Fundación 911, a Mexican nonprofit specializing in supporting fire departments. Its president and founder, Ismael Aldaba, recounted their swift mobilization: “Once we learned [Kerr County was] affected, we knew we had to come down here. We know this was a mission to come and help our brothers.”
Fundación 911 dispatched a 40-person crew equipped with cadaver dogs and expertise in fast-water rescues. They joined local responders in a desperate search for survivors and victims, working around the clock to provide relief. Another Mexican group, Los Topos, brought decades of experience in disaster response, honed since Mexico’s devastating 1985 earthquake. Patricia Campos, a volunteer with Los Topos, told Austin’s KXAN, “We know the need there is, to find the children.” She added, “What moved me here is wanting to support people without expecting anything in return. This work is very beautiful, there are no words to explain it.”
The outpouring of cross-border support in the wake of the Texas floods is just one example of a broader, ongoing partnership between communities on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Andy Carey, executive director of the US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership (BPP), described this unique relationship: “The US-Mexico border region is a community. We have a shared community and a shared destiny because when you live and work and play in the borderlands, you live and work and play on both sides of the border, in communities in both the United States and Mexico. We are inextricably linked.”
BPP, based in San Diego, California, exemplifies this cross-border spirit. The organization brings together volunteers, donors, and partners from both countries, providing educational, coaching, and leadership services tailored to the region’s needs. According to BPP, neither the US nor the Mexican educational system is fully equipped to serve students from the borderlands—an overlooked opportunity for cultivating bilingual leaders. The region also grapples with persistent health disparities, high poverty rates, water scarcity, and the complex impacts of US migration policies.
Carey emphasized the scale of BPP’s efforts: “We have helped channel $17 million in charitable giving in the last couple of years. We provide fiscal-sponsorship services to 176 initiatives between the two countries. We can provide tax-deductibility receipts on either side of the border through our sister organization.”
But BPP is far from alone. The landscape of international aid is dotted with organizations that facilitate cross-border support. GlobalGiving, with offices in London and Washington, DC, connects donors with nonprofits worldwide. TechSoup Global Network leverages a network of more than 60 partner organizations on six continents to provide resources and operational insight to over a million nonprofits. InterAction, the largest US-based alliance of international nonprofits, mobilizes its networks to help vulnerable populations around the globe.
As Carey pointed out, “There is a huge need for support on both sides of the border.” To formalize and sustain such support, many advocates recommend establishing "Friends of" 501(c)(3) organizations. These nonprofits, classified as public charities, allow donors to receive federal tax deductions while supporting foreign charities, sidestepping regulatory hurdles that otherwise complicate direct international grants. According to the Council on Foundations, this arrangement "generally exists to provide federal tax deductibility for charitable contributions to support a foreign charity by breaking a ‘conduit’ flow of funds to the foreign charity."
Whether it’s government-led cleanups in Metro Manila’s creeks or cross-border volunteer brigades in Texas, these efforts reveal a common thread: communities—whether separated by rivers or national boundaries—are finding new ways to work together in the face of environmental and humanitarian crises. The story of 2025 is one of resilience, innovation, and a growing recognition that when disaster strikes, help often comes from both near and far.
As floodwaters recede and garbage is cleared from waterways, what remains is a deeper sense of connection and shared responsibility. The work is far from finished, but the commitment of these organizations and communities offers hope that the next crisis will find us better prepared—and just a little more united.