Pinoys in the UN Hold Benefit Fundraiser for Kababayans Back Home!

12/21/2009 | Ayala Foundation USA

The Friends of the United Nations Staff Recreation Council-Philippine Cultural Society, composed of current and former staff members (and their families) of the United Nations and the UN member state Permanent Missions and Consulates, recently sponsored a benefit dinner dance for projects aimed at improving education in the Philippines. Held at the Step by Step Dancesport in Bergenfield, New Jersey, the event featured 150 guests including Deputy Consul-General of the Philippine Consulate General of New York, Ms.Millie Sta. Maria Thomeczek.

Guests were treated to a sumptuous spread of classic Pinoy favorites such as lumpia, sisig, pancit, kare-kare and bistek, to name a few. Music and raffle games also completed the fun evening.

One of the beneficiaries of the August 7th event was the Philippines Dictionary Project (which received a check in the amount of $450.00). The project, a partner of Ayala Foundation USA, aims to distribute brand-new, well-designed children's illustrated dictionaries to public elementary schools across the Philippines.

As of year-end 2009, the project has already adopted 94 public elementary
schools across Negros Oriental, Capiz, Leyte, Iloilo and Guimaras. The Friends
of PCS fundraising event, chaired by Ms. Bess Icasanio, raised 50 dictionaries
to sponsor one Iloilo school.

Another beneficiary was the Sta. Ana, Pampanga's Santiago Garcia Educational Foundation, Inc., which provides free vocational and basic entrepreneurial training courses to individuals who cannot afford to pay for their secondary schooling. In so doing, Santiago Garcia Educational Foundation, Inc. imparts special skills to these scholars so that they may improve their quality of life.

PCS President Guillerma Dumalag describes the successful event as having filled her and her fellow officers "with great pride and a good feeling, to know that even though we are several thousand miles away, we were able to reach out and show our underprivileged kababayans back home that we remember them and keep them in our hearts always."

For more information on PCS and its PCS Ugnayan newsletter, please contact Cordelia Gow at cgow@un.org. For more information on the Philippines Dictionary Project, please contact its founder, Nina Patawaran, at philippinesdictionaryproject@gmail.com or (917) 602-0661. More information on the Santiago Garcia Educational Foundation, Inc. may be found on its website santiagogarciafoundation.org.