To our officiator tonight, Mr. Leo, Sicat, to the outgoing board, members, the new elected officers, and directors, to the event committee! Good evening and thank you for being here tonight.

In addition, I would also like to recognize the presence of my very supportive, loving, and caring husband, Mr. Edgar A. Harris.

I am so delighted to have your trust and faith in me as the incoming President of FACO. With all the opportunities and challenges that come with my acceptance to serve FACO, I understand that this journey will not be a smooth one if I am to walk it alone. However, if we walk this journey as a strong sharing team, we shall certainly not only succeed but prosper in so many ways.

Let me take this opportunity to acknowledge the tremendous, adorable initiatives and achievements that were undertaken by all the previous groups of leaders. Indeed, you were all an inspiration, a challenge, and an avenue for us to continue doing these great works that you began. I am certain though, that the new incoming team that we have, we shall continue to grow, innovate, and continuously improve our organization.

To our members, who may also belong to other associations; we want to say that this journey we cannot make alone as leaders, but it is through your support, critics, and encouragement that will help FACO become the BEST non-profit organization, because as a TEAM we will always be STRONGER.

Thank you all, God bless, and may God continue to bless our organization, its leaders, its undying supportive members, and all of you who have made this organization what it is today.

Mabuhay!! Maligayang Pasko

Dori D. Harris

PRES. BELLE LIMOGE
A LOOK INTO FACO'S 2015
AND THE DYNAMIC TEAM BEHIND IT
January 6, 2016

During the first Executive Board Meeting this year, we reviewed the year that went by - 2015. 2015 is a challenging year for FACO, as we evolve from a social club (since 1976) to a now non-profit 501C3 organization. It is marked with vital projects to further our mission. For youth and education, we have expanded our scholarship program by not only having scholarships here, we also have two (2) full scholars in the Philippines, aside from sponsoring a Tagalog classroom in UPIS. We increased our donation to Oceanside Public Library to $1,500 instead of $1,000. In 2016, we have bigger budget for scholarships and education.

On Feb. 19th, we are going to turn-over to the barangay the learning center/multi-purpose hall we built in Tacloban which cost over $16,600. This is the result of the corroborative efforts and contribution of the members initiated by PP Mely Sivage, the Typhoon Haiyan committee, and all the other committees who raised funds to cover it. For cultural promotion, we donated $5,000 to the House of the Philippines to build a home of Philippine culture, history and arts in Balboa Park. Now, we have Tagalog class for free to members. This completes our cultural mission for we not only have our Cultural Day but we also have our cultural dance group and language development class. True to our mission, last November 15th, FACO received the 2015 Historical Heritage Excellence Award by the San Diego Fil-Am Humanitarian Foundation (SDFAH) . All these projects and achievements are made possible to realize with the support of members, volunteers and the attention to efficiency, good planning and good leadership of our executive board and committee leaders.

We have a GOOD TEAM, a set of leaders, to help me in this transition and to achieve our mission. To start with, let me express my gratitude to our hardworking and dedicated EXECUTIVE BOARD. We have our Vice-President Zucette Lumabas who has always been very supportive, knowledgeable, hardworking and dedicated. She chairs the hospitality committee, Pinoy Got Talent (PGT), co-chair of the two biggest events - June event celebration and Holiday Ball; Children's Christmas Party, Halloween, etc. Her energy is unbelievable! I am blessed to have a very kind and equally hard-working executive secretary Dorothy Mahimer, who diligently does the minutes, and correspondence secretary Alexis Plaisted, who writes our Newsletter and posters. CS Alexis shares her enormous talent as chair of the Mrs. Fil-Am and co-chair the prestigious and much-talked about Miss Fil-Am last year. Part of the year, we had the outstanding services of Jonathan Enerva (who also served as director and writer of our cultural play) and Vangie Mcneal as executive secretary and treasurer, respectively. Recently, I have Ms. Rose Wallace who is greatly doing the arduous task of treasurer and now, with a very able and competent assistant Rein Hanson. Our sergeant-at-arms Pete Cruz, Johnny Sivage and Bob Hamitlon are always there for us. Pete Cruz as our custodian is on call 24/7. Johnny Sivage is always willing to give his help as well. Bob Hamilton is the co-chair in June event and has full of ideas not to mention his burning desire to serve FACO. All our male officers are just amazing!

Now, going to our executive directors - the committees and events are usually led by our executive directors. To start with, we have a very dynamic and hard-working Dori Harris who as chair of the membership committee, has been successful in increasing and motivating the membership and holding membership meetings. She started the Language Dev. Program and initiated fund-raising to provide free Tagalog classes for young and adults making FACO the only association who provides said services. She also co-chairs events like last year's Miss Fil-Am and Mrs. Fil-Am Golden/Platinum. Dir. Malou Hamto who is the chair for YDP had lined up activities for the youth. Her dedication to YDP is unparalleled. With Dir. Malou is Tony Lime whose talents are incredible and a great asset to YDP's programs and performances. Dir. Wendy Thrower, who has outstanding organizational skills, chair events like Mother's Day and Mrs. Fil-Am Platinum & Golden, now in charge of marketing the website. Dir. Marilou dela Rosa, who has vast experience with other associations and led this association for 6 years, always have ideas and suggestions to share when she is around for the executive board meeting and helps FACO in getting sponsors. Dir. Virgie Flemming is always available when needed. Her dedication is admirable, especially when she chairs the Children's Christmas Party and co-chair the Cultural Fashion Show. Lastly, among our directors is ex-officio PP Mely Sivage who I admire so much for her passion for FACO. Just like PP Rica Derosier, their love for FACO is undying and they are always there to be involved in almost all of our events either as chair, co-chair or just members. Hats off to these two dedicated and great past presidents of our association!

We are fortunate to have other committees led by great people like Dee Weber and Nelly Taguba, chair & co-chair respectively of the scholarship committee. These ladies are just spectacular! Our cultural dance group chair is the very talented Enri Fulmore and with her are two amazing co-partners, Janice Ureta-Sanchez and Esther Adversalo.

Each committee submits budget, plans and programs at the start of the year and at the end of the year, we evaluate how well we did. Each meeting, an agenda is approved and followed with reports of the secretary, treasurer, standing and event committees; and new concerns and plans are democratically decided upon . A good harmonious work atmosphere can only be achieved with positivity, openness and objectivity. It will always be focusing on the goals of the association and just serving above self.

I can go on and on about those who are part of the team but the members may spend an hour to read it. I may miss some or forget to mention some important points, if so, my apologies and kindly understand my senior moment and the extemporaneity of this write-up. To the great team of FACO, thank you very much for making 2015 a great year!! To the members, without your support, we cannot achieve our mission!! Together, we continue to move forward as a strong organization because as our motto says, "In Unity, there is Strength".

PRES. AMELIA SIVAGE'S SPEECH FOR
JUNE 11TH CULTURAL DAY

In reality, FIL-AM was established in 1974 by a group of few Filipinos, mostly members of the military families. They had their first induction ball in 1977. It was a very successful association in the beginning, but families do move around and it did slow down during the 80's and 90's. New people came around 2000 who were very active, devoted with one goal in mind - to teach and promote our culture to our younger generations. MARILOU HRUBY was our President at that time when we decided to become partner with the Oceanside Public Library in 2001. We become very successful. Our next president, RICA DEROSIER, followed it through and our membership became larger, between 200 to 300 members. The reason for this success is because we established varieties of program - such as teaching our cultural dances, introducing our cultural costumes and clothing of different eras from different regions of the Philippines. We also established scholarships for our brightest and well-rounded children. We have events scheduled during the year for our families of all ages.

Another reason for success of these ten years are due to the hard work and planning of FIL-AM officers and directors, participation and support of all our members, and the most important is our partnership with the Oceanside Public Library through Deborah Polich - the director and all her associates. We plan and work hand-in-hand, especially our June event which is our Cultural day coinciding with our June 12th Philippine Independence Day and I, AMELIA SIVAGE, the President will continue the success of this association.

Hello Kababayan!

Thank you to all who helped with the success of our recent annual June event. Trying to name all of those who helped would be risky for me as I might forget someone. So to all the volunteers, members and all the officers of the event ,I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Words are not enough to express how grateful I am to have such generous and able-bodied people in this association. All of our events would not be possible without your help.

2010 is quickly coming to an end, and what a better way to celebrate the closing of the year with "Parties". I am really excited for the upcoming Annual Picnic on Sept. 26th (Saturday) from 1:00PM to 5:00PM at the Luiseno Park in Oceanside. We expect lots of great games, entertainment and door prizes throughout the day; also we will have our membership drive to remind members to renew their membership and encourage our new "Kababayan" in the area that Fil-Am Cultural Association does exist. Please bring your friends, family and acquaintances to the picnic. Your membership renewal to this association is very important to the continuity of our community and group mission. I am encouraging you to attend, so you can exercise your right as a member and vote. The members are the foundation of the association. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude for your undying support and hope that we can continue the same enthusiasm and support into 2011. This year is our election of officers and board members for the year 2011-2012. And if you think you could be an asset to the association, you are welcome to step in and let us nominate you as one of the representatives of the Fil-Am Cultural Association of North San Diego County!

Again, thank you so much to all!!

Rica Derosier
President
Fil-Am Cultural Assn Of North San Diego County
www.filamsandiegonorthcounty.com
760-207-6410

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our 2009 Miss Fil-Am Cultural Association of North San Diego Pageant competition. I would like to take a moment to extend my deepest gratitude to all the officers, members, volunteers and participants– who, without them this evening would not be possible. I also want to give a very special welcome to our courageous pageant candidates, their families, Guest Performers and our very special Guest of Honor this evening Mayor Jim Wood.

Candidates, we salute you for your great effort, hard work and sacrifices. You are all winners in the truest sense of word. Although only one gets crowned, I want you to know that you are individually unique and beautiful and have filled a purpose in life that to someone else you are a Queen.

Parents, we admire you for raising these fine candidates. Long after tonight’s event is over, after one person is declared the new 2009 Miss Fil-Am Cultural Association of North San Diego County, we will all remember you as the instrument in making this event a major success. We could attest on how difficult it is to raise Filipinos in this foreign land we all learned to love.
Tonight your daughters are here to proudly assert their Filipino identities, and to project our admirable Filipino traits and qualities, sharing our unique culture and traditions. This pageant competition will hopefully remind us of the Filipino culture that we do not want our children to forget.

Judges, we thank you for your patience. You have an enormous task ahead of you; we hope and pray that your wisdom will guide you in making the right decisions tonight and when the night is over, they would have chosen the new Miss Fil-Am who is best able to represent the whole Fil-Am community with pride.

Lastly, I would like to thanks Pat De La Rosa Pageant Chairman, Belle Limoge co- chair, Pam Pahnke Pageant Coordinator, Carmina Barker assistant coordinator, Efren Abiera Jr. our choreographer, Mrs Fil-Am 2009 and her court, Cultural Dancers, Little Miss Fil-Am and her court, Pre-Teen Miss Fil-Am and her court, Executive Directors, Board of Directors, Officers, Members, Volunteers, Guest Performers, our Special guest Beverly Pestano, Our Donors, Ted Lintan, our emcee for his undying support to the Fil-Am and of course GySgt Galin Oliver and his marines. To everyone in this room , thank you so much for all the support.

MARAMING SALAMAT PO AT MABUHAY!!!!!

Rica Derosier
President
Fil-Am Cultural Assn Of North San Diego County
www.filamsandiegonorthcounty.com
760-207-6410

Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to serve another term.

It was truly an honor working with all of you and serving you. I have waited this far to do this message because I wanted to cover a lot of what’s going on in the community. We have been blessed with a lot of good and successful things like our Valentine's Day Dinner Dance, Mother's Day’s Mardi Gras, “Car Wash", Bowl-A-Thon and most of all, our 8th Annual Fil-Am event with this year's theme “Express Your Culture”. Let me please extend my gratitude to everyone who graced the occassion, young and old, who were delighted to visit the vendor’s booth and food stands, while others stayed on provided chairs, with no shade, just enjoying the overture, the opening and welcome address for the morning crowd. Local public Officials were present to offer their support of the Fil-Am community; such as, Oceanside Mayor Jim Wood, council members namely, Rocky Chavez, Jack Feller, Jerome Fern and Esther Sanchez, and the Oceanside Library Dir. Deborah Polich. A very special thanks to the Staff of Oceanside Public Library for their support and generosity - as the venue contributed to the huge success of the event .l am most grateful to our sponsoring Partner, Vendors and Donors of the event, for without them, it will not be the same. I hope that we show them our support by patronizing their products and services. Congratulations to the Winners ,Chairpersons, Board of Directors, Officers, Committees, Emcees, Hosts, Candidates, Volunteers, Performers, Models, Participants of the Mrs Fil-Am, Pre-Teen Fil-Am, Little Miss Fil-Am 2009 pageant, Traditional Fashion show, Showcase UR talent, and FIL-AM Scholars. Special thanks should go to the parents of Little Miss and Pre-teen candidates, and cultural dancers, for giving up their weekends with undying efforts and support to drive and be there for their siblings during rehearsals.

I salute Enri, Belle and the cultural dancers, for even with only minimal weeks of practices, had realized my goal this year to have Filipino Cultural Dances become a part of the 8th annual event, Thank you so much!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you, officers and members, from the bottom of my heart, for all the support - commitment to service - and love for community that you possess - all of which helped in making the 8th Annual Fil-Am Celebration a success. Without all of you, these will not take place.

Lastly, I would like to announce our another upcoming event which will be on August 08, 2009, the “ MISS TEEN FIL-AM 2009" and "MISS FIL-AM 2009" pageant and the venue will be at the Grand Ballroom of South Mesa Club located at MCCS Camp Pendleton, CA . For more details, please visit our website: www.filamsandiegonorthcounty.com

MARAMING SALAMAT PO AT MABUHAY!!!!!

Rica Derosier
President
Fil-Am Cultural Assn Of North San Diego County
www.filamsandiegonorthcounty.com
760-207-6410

It is my pleasure to extend a heartfelt gratitude to all the help and support to make this association success. I take this opportunity to praise the officers, board members, committees and all the volunteer who have demonstrated their commitment and rendering us their undying support for making every event a success. With your focues on cultural awareness, family values, higher education, leadership, and role models, you make all Filipinos proud.

Once and for all, my special thanks to all the Parent's, for generously donating their tireless energy and efforts supporting the candidates and association during the pageant. I, salute the Mrs Fil-Am candidates for all the effort and support in raising funds to make the event a success one more. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS, JUDGES, EMCEESS, COMMITTEES, PARTICIPANTS, PARENTS AND OUR FRIENDS AT THE OCEANSIDE PUBLIC LIBRARY, WE MADE IT A SUCCESS....

Candidates see you all next year and we will make it better and more enjoyable.

And don't forget to watch the Freemdom Parade June 28, 2008, Saturday at South Coast Highway, Oceanside, C.A. It starts at 10;00AM, anyone joining the parade be there by 9:00am. Volunteers, decorators and officers be there by 8:00AM.

Thank you, on behalf of the Fil-Am, I am looking to moving the association forward, with visions of greater unity among our Kababayan, and more recognition of our culture in Oceanside, San Diego County.

Maraming Salamat Po,

RICA DEROSIER
President