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June 18, 2005 SMSSAFF Meeting
The June 18, 2005 SMSSAFF meeting in Sierra
Mia, West Virginia was quite successful. Thanks to the following
for making this meeting a memorable event:
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To Edwin
and Mia for graciously allowing SMSSAFF to use their beautiful
vacation house as venue for subject meeting. Not only that, Mia
was a very busy host, helping in the cooking, dish washing,
cleaning and seeing to it that the needs of her visitors were
attended to; and yet she found time to attend the business
meeting. Her valuable suggestions in the proposed revisions of
the SMSSAFF by-laws to make the same an effective SMSSAFF
document is much appreciated. Edwin was, of course, equally
helpful as Mia in attending to the needs of their guests and
contributing valuable suggestions during the business meeting.
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To Nellie
A. Pit-og and the members of the preparation committee for a job
well done. I understand Nellie brought/bought most of the food
during the three-day event; Ellen Dixon baked 7 pans of banana
cake; Ernest Killip for the "sinka labba" [basketfull] of
delicious "Tinodok"; the Castillejos for the crabs and chicken
bar-b-que. To other members of the preparation committee, whose
names I may have missed, but goes our sincere gratitude as well.
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To Gettie
Thompson for those delicious lobsters everybody enjoyed.
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To Dr. John
Alipit for crafting and delivering a beautiful morning prayer
service.
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To all
participants, because with your presence we were able to
accomplish much in helping keep the enthusiasm or the fire
burning, towards sustaining the vision and mission which we
dearly hold vis a vis St. Mary's School, Sagada.
BUSINESS MEETING
So what specifically did we accomplish
during the June 18 SMSSAFF business meeting in Sierra Mia, West Virginia?
- The SMSSAFF membership was able to go
over the SMSSAFF By-laws and Articles of Association, effect
needed revisions, and give its stamp of approval to the two
documents. These two documents are the legal cornerstones of
SMSSAFF needed to sustain its tax-exempt status. We need to
sustain our tax-exempt status because this is our best hope, if
not the only way, for convincing corporate donors to allocate
some of their tax-exempt donations to St. Mary's School, Sagada.
- We were able to reconstitute the
members of the SMSSAFF Board of Trustees with the hope of
achieving a wider support base through greater regional
representation as well as better Board-of-Trustees involvement
in the Save SMS, Sagada initiative. Those elected in absentia to
the Board of Trustees will of course be subject to their
acceptance of their mandate. Please go to [or click on the
following hyperlink] to see who are the nominated/elected
members of the Board of Trustees. Those elected in absentia can
also confirm their acceptance to their nomination/election in
the form provided for in this webpage.
*SMSSAFF Board of
Trustees [Please click on hyperlink to access]
May I also appeal to the
elected-in-absentia Members of the Board of Trustees to exercise
their rights of suffrage as to who should be the Chairman of the
Board of Trustees and who should be the Officers of SMSSAFF by
going to [or clicking on] the following hyperlink:
*SMSSAFF Election Form
[Please click on hyperlink to access]
- We may have taken only a small step,
caused only a ripple in the overall scheme of things to save SMS
during our Sierra Mia meeting, but it could be a crucial step, a
ripple that will inspire a wave of activities to help save our
beloved alma mater. Only time will tell.
For a more detailed accounting of the
business proceedings go to [or click on] the:
MONDAY MORNING SERVICE
We had a beautiful and spiritually uplifting
Sunday Morning Prayers crafted and administered by Dr. John Alipit. I
am almost sure that anybody who was there could not help but be
motivated to help SAVE our beloved alma mater, St. Mary's School,
Sagada, Mt. Province, Philippines. How I wish more alumni and Friends
were there.
I have uploaded Dr.
John's inspiring homily in the "Save SMS Sagada Website" with the hope
of sharing his message to as many alumni and friends as possible. To
read Dr. John Alipit's homily, go to or click on the following
hyperlink:
PICTORIALS
Click on the following hyperlinks to see
some pictures during the SMSSAFF meeting in Sierra Mia, West
Virginia:
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