Stockton Chapter Minutes from December 15, 2001 Meeting
By Terri Torres, Secretary
We thank Anita Bautista for opening her home for our delicious Christmas potluck/social and meeting. Those in attendance were Richard Tenaza, Virginia Navarro, Virgie Melear, Rebecca DeGuzman, Violet Dutra, Jerry and Eleanor Paular, Donald and Gloria Manalo, Sleepy Caballero, Sue Mangrobang, Maria Vea, Moreno and Deanna Balantac, Terri Torres, Anita Bautista, and guests Vangie Godinez, Albert Juanitas, and Joy Juanitas.
President, Richard Tenaza, called meeting to order at 12:50 PM. Minutes from the previous meetings were approved as distributed.
OFFICER REPORTS
President: Richard Tenaza -- Central Valley Asian-American Chamber of Commerce: After discussions on the benefits of joining the chamber, Richard said he would donate $50 to pay the first year's membership fee. A motion was made and passed to send a check for our dues. It was announced that the Chamber was giving a seminar/workshop on "event planning' and working with the media on Dec. 18 at Humphrey's College. Richard said he would try to attend as a representative of our chapter.
Renaming of El Dorado Street: Richard stated that he had written a letter (sent it by email) to the Record concerning the historical importance of El Dorado Street, but that it was returned. He will try to send it again. It was agreed that our chapter would show a united front against the renaming to Stockton's City Council if the matter ever came before them. Our member Addie Suguitan will be asked to keep us informed of the matter.
Vice President: Mel LaGasca (not able to attend) -- Museum Project: Terri Torres and Deanna Balantac reviewed what was discussed at the Museum Committee's meeting on Dec. 1. (See attached report).
Treasurer: Virgie Melear -- Bank Balance: Checking account has a balance of $3,827.59 of which approximately $350 needs to be paid out for consignment items, plus money still needs to be paid to National for dues.
Storage Unit: The cost for the rental of our storage unit is increasing $10 a month. Virgie will check into finding out what it would cost for a larger unit at various places and get back to us. In the meantime, it was moved and passed that she pays the bill on the current unit. If Virgie does find another storage unit for our archives, we will need volunteers to move the items to the new unit.
FANHSing Items: Virgie suggested we order a banner that says "Stockton Chapter of FANHS" to put up when we have booths at various events that would make our booth look more professional. It would cost between $150 to $275. Virgie will report on how much money we made in 2001 on the FANHSing items to see if it would warrant spending that much money on a banner.
Secretary: Terri Torres -- Correspondence: Terri passed out items received from other chapters and organizations.
Newsletter: Terri said that she would mail out the January 2002 newsletter after our January 10, 2002 meeting. Deadline for articles has been extended to January 3, 2002.
FANHS National 2002 Conference: Terri has received a request from National President Art Villarruz to have each chapter donate a $20 value item to the silent auction that will be held at the conference to raise money for National. It was requested for members to see if they have anything they would like to donate and get back to us.
Chapters are being asked to do some kind of presentation at the conference. Deanna Balantac suggested we see if can bring the bunkhouse display to the conference as a standing exhibit. Everyone liked the idea. The concerns were how to bring it down to Los Angeles, the need for volunteers to man the display in shifts, and a written script and description of items for the exhibit. Volunteers would have shifts of 2 to 3 hours and would have to be able to explain each item in the display and tell a typical bunkhouse life story. It was decided that the Exhibit Committee would handle the logistics of this project to see if it would be feasible to do. A meeting was scheduled for January 12 at Virgie Melear's home at 11 AM. Lunch will be served. In the meantime, Terri will contact the people in charge of the conference to see if our idea would fit in with their plans.
Smithsonian Request: A request has been received from the Smithsonian Institute to see if we or knew of someone who could host their current traveling exhibit "Through My Father's Eyes" by Janet Alvarado. This exhibit contains photographs of Filipino Americans in the San Francisco area taken by Ricardo Alvarado. The fee would be $2,000 to host the exhibit. It was decided that we could not afford to host the exhibit and we could not think of any other organization in the Stockton area that could. Terri will reply to the Smithsonian of our findings.
Stockton Fil-Am Lions: Terri reported that she had contacted Christiane Roceli of that club to invite her to our December meeting to tell us about the Lions club. She was unable to attend but she stated that we were invited to attend the Lions' meetings that are the first and third Mondays of each month. We will see if one of our officers can go to these meetings in 2002. The Fil-Am Lions could be a good source of support for our chapter and our projects.
Committee Budgets: At the beginning of 2001, most of our committees had created a budget for their expenses. Each committee is to review its budget and create a year-end summary and submit a new budget for 2002 at the January 10, 2002 meeting.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Membership: Violet Dutra -- Violet reported that we have 119 members. She also reminded everyone that it is time to renew dues for 2002.
A suggestion was made to create a membership directory booklet to be given to our chapter members, enabling members to contact one another. The directory would be used only for FANHS business and not for solicitation or other business. A request will be sent members to fill out if they want to be included in the directory. Only members who respond will be included in the directory.
Community Liaison: Buster Villa -- unable to attend.
Education: Richard Tenaza volunteered to chair this committee with Virginia Navarro as his assistant. One of the areas they will concentrate on is getting more students interested in FANHS.
Archives: Bob Cabigas -- unable to attend.
Historians: Deanna and Moreno Balantac -- Moreno passed out their report which stated their progress of updating the chapter's photo album and a listing of their expenses for the year ($60). They are donating their expenses to FANHS. Deanna also requests that members continue to send in photographs of our chapter events for the scrapbook.
Fundraising: Mary Louise Lopez and Violet Dutra -- Magical Night of Giving: Violet reported that we sold 74 tickets for that event, raising $370 for our chapter. The only work involved in this fund-raiser was in selling tickets.
Barnes and Noble Gift-wrapping: Violet reported that our chapter raised $40 in donations for the two days that she and Terri volunteered at Barnes and Noble. The only work involved is gift wrapping Barnes and Noble's customers purchases upon request. Barnes and Noble provided the workspace and all supplies. Our chapter keeps any donations from the customers for our services.
Raffle at Meetings: Violet and Mary Louise asked if we wanted to keep having raffle prizes at our monthly meetings as a fund-raiser. It was suggested that we still have the raffle, but reduce the number of prizes to 3 or 4. The raffles and monthly presentations were started as a means for our chapter to raise funds on a monthly basis to offset our monthly expenses. It was suggested to advertise the presentations more and to have someone call members each month to remind them to attend and to bring others. Sue Mangrobang volunteered to telephone members by using the directory of our membership, if one is created.
Exhibit: Virgie Melear and Bob Cabigas -- Virgie Melear reported that the photographs given to the Orchid Restaurant are on display on their walls and they would like a sign that states the photographs are courtesy of FANHS. Virgie will ask Bob Cabigas to check on that and to see if we can leave our brochures there. As stated above, the Exhibit Committee will meet on January 12, 2002, at Virgie's home.
OLD BUSINESS
Little Manila Project: Dawn Mabalon -- unable to attend. Terri reported that she had received an e-mail from Dawn stating that Rex Navarrete has agreed to do a benefit show for the project on January 19 at Tillie Lewis Theater at Delta College. Dawn will send us more information when she can. Dawn also stated that the committee would be meeting on Dec. 29, time and place to be announced by e-mail from Dawn Mabalon.
NEW BUSINESS
Untold Triumph Documentary: Terri reported that she had received e-mail from Linda Revilla, one of the coordinators of the film project. The "rough cut" of the documentary is being shown in various cities to the First and Second Infantry veterans for their perusal and comments. Linda would like to show the film in Stockton to the veterans here. We would need to locate the veterans and find a suitable place to view the film. Virgie Melear, Anita Bautista and Sue Mangrobang volunteered to be in charge of this project and will keep us updated on their progress.
Sergeant of Arms: Richard Tenaza appointed Donald Manalo to be Sergeant of Arms at our meetings.
Meeting was adjourned at 2:45 PM. Next meeting will be January 10, 2002, 7 PM at the Filipino Center Social Hall. New officers will be announced.