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The conference was fun-filled, spiritually
uplifting, while generating a respectable amount from our various fund
raising activities.
Majority of the golfers were enthralled at
the awarding ceremonies where they were treated with a
"never-seen-before" entertainment. "I have never enjoyed
a golf awarding affair as this one" was a
comment heard from many of the golfers. It seems the fun-filled
golf awarding ceremonies negated some complaints about the
not-so-perfect condition of the golf course.
The vespers and the Sunday
Eucharist which were celebrated in the manner they were conducted in St.
Mary the Virgin, Sagada in the 1950's seemed to have an emotionally
uplifting effect on the older members of the congregation as they
chanted with gusto some Gregorian Chants; sung familiar hymns to the
limits of their vocal chords; and piously participated in long
remembered 'but-now-gone" church rituals. The younger alumni could not
help but be amused though positively affected by the reactions from many
of their elders.
There was active participation in
all the scheduled events of the conference i. e., the "Coin Collection
Challenge", the "Business Meeting", the "Book Sale" on "Odyssey of an
Igorot Mission Girl", the BOT meeting, the General Assembly Meeting and
the Saturday night socials.
Except for some minor quirks, food
preparations was good and plentiful.
From our fund-raising efforts, the
SMSSAFF treasurer reported that during the conference, we we were able
to generate/service $35,613 worth of donations for SMSS as follows:
-
$16,863 net
profit from the golf tournament, the souvenir program, the Coin
Collection Challenge, the conference registration fees, and the
Saturday Mass "limus";
-
$12,000 worth
of new pledges for the "Sponsor A Faculty Chair Project";
-
$5,750
collection from past pledges; and
-
$1,000 donation
to the endowment fund;
Part of the cash
receipts on pledges falling due and/or pledged for year 2007-2008 were
already remitted to SMSSI. The net profit from the conference will be
allocated to the "Sponsor A Faculty Chair" as maybe decided by the
SMSSAFF Board of Trustees. [The BOT already approved the allocation of
$12,000 for 4 faculty chair sponsorships. It seems the conference can
still sponsor one more faculty chair.]
May I also claim,
at the risk of being
presumptuous, that the attendance of Dr. Albert and Carolyn Bacdayan
in the New York SMSSAFF sponsored conference, seemed to have stimulated their
continued support to SMSS and other mission schools. Thus, a month or so
after the conference, Dr. Bacdayan mailed a check to the
SMSSAFF Treasurer the amount of $3,000 [$2,000 for the SMSS endowment fund project and
$1,000 for St. Alfred's School, Tamboan].
Last but not the
least, the conference gave birth to two note-worthy ideas for helping our
alma mater, namely:
-
The idea of
coming out with a data base from which a socio-economic profile of
the former mountain provinces, now called Cordillera Administrative
region, can be evolved in support of fund raising proposals to
corporate donors in the future; and
-
The idea,
hatched by Sheli Torrevillas, of a walkathon/marathon during the 2008
SMSS alumni and friends grand re-union/home-coming. This could earn
some amount for SMSS but the physical fitness consciousness that it
can instill to students at SMSS and other Igorot youth; as well as providing them another diversion from
hazardous and criminality prone activities such as drug
addiction/trafficking, truancy, boozing and the like is
immeasurable.
For and in behalf of SMSS Alumni
and Friends Foundation, THANK YOU SO MUCH to all who in one way or
another supported the 3rd SMSSAFF sponsored SMSS alumni and friends
conference in North America, held at St. John's Episcopal Church,
Flushing, Queens, New York. Salamat, muchias gracias, domo arigato, Ay
siya dadlo sa.
Lambert Sagalla
President
SMSS Alumni and Friends Foundation
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