Leaders in Chicago's Filipino-American community are organizing fundraisers to help in the aftermath of a powerful typhoon in the Philippines last week that killed an estimated 10,000 people.



Donations will be collected starting at 6 p.m. Monday at Allegretti's Pizzeria & Ristorante, 933 E. Oakton St. in Des Plaines, said the Midwest regional coordinator for the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, Nerissa Allegretti, whose family owns the restaurant.



Allegretti, who said she lived in the Philippines for 20 years doing service work and has friends and family there, said any money collected will go toward a disaster relief fund started by the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns.



Later this week, all food purchases at a luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday at Sunda, 110 W. Illinois St., Chicago, are expected to go to the Philippine Red Cross, said Leo Herrera-Lim, the consul general of the Philippines in Chicago. Billy Dec, who owns Sunda, is of Filipino descent.



Herrera-Lim, who said Illinois has the third-largest population of Filipinos in the U.S., about 140,000, said offering support is crucial as those rebuilding the country in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan face a "long haul."



While the country sees about 24 typhoons each year, the one that struck late last week was "really a once-in-a-lifetime tragedy," Herrera-Lim said.



Some local churches are organizing collections for relief efforts. Before the Sunday evening Mass at Transfiguration of Our Lord Church in Ravenswood began, the Rev. Jose Fernando Zuleta announced that a second collection would be taken next week to support typhoon victims.



"There is a lot of need," Zuleta told the congregation.