FFRGOC President Debbie Gonzales thanked the Board of Directors officers and members who worked hard for the Pista sa Nayon Event.
The crew collecting for raffle tickets and auction of items and also as usherettes
Attendees dancing to the beat during the Pista sa Nayon 2019
Attendees from the Central East Chapter
The Choir singing a song to start the event
The "Bakya Dance" of the FFRGOC South Chapter
This event is a fund raising event for our Seminarian Scholarship Program and for the October Rally, 2019 and was attended by our members and officers and guests of FFRGOC.
In this joyful occasion, we also showcase our traditional Filipina dresses and Filipino men's attires that vary by regions in the Philippines. Our decor also features natural products from the Philippines like woven baskets and other decorative products made of capiz and other shells that are abundant in the different islands .
The chairpersons of this event, Mary Ann Puzon and Fely Claudio, did a wonderful job by sending dinner dance and raffle tickets to the members and officers of FFRGOC and creating committees and coordinating with the hotel for a smooth operation. They came up with the color theme of red, yellow and blue consistent with the colors of the Philippine Flag.
They also got beautiful runners and made unique centerpieces with a tropical theme. Marlon Agbayani did the beautiful backdrops of our stage and the photo booth.
Our emcees for the night were Lorraine Betts and Walter Bayubay who did a wonderful job.
Fiestas or Pistas are very common in the different towns or cities in the Philippines and usually celebrated with a lot of fanfare before summer.
The date and venue for this event was last September 07, 2019 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Garden Grove, California with a very good attendance. Thanks to all the hard work as mentioned by our President Debbie Gonzales to the audience.
The night was not enough for building rapport with everyone who have common beliefs and values and pray the rosary to honor Jesus through Mary. We had good food, good music with different types of music and good presentation of the President introducing the people and board of directors who worked hard for the event. Filipinos love to dance and sing and we had plenty of those during the night and wine and drinks were also available for purchase.
FFRGOC South Chapter ladies also did a Filipino folk dance called the Bakya (wooden shoes) Dance. Dancers use the bakya as props by hitting them together with their hands and doing different dance formations. The Bakya Dance is commonly performed at the Town Fiestas in various parts of the Philippines. What a great way to watch folk dances that makes you want to go on #vacation to the tropics.
We also had silent auctions where you can bid on beads or pearls from the islands, baskets woven by Philippine locals, TV for big ticket items and tickets to the Philippines can also be available for a fraction of a price of the cost of the real ticket if you are lucky and of course tickets to restaurants coming from donors of which our organization was very grateful.
It was like a vacation to the Philippines witnessing the display of cultures and traditions such as "tinikling" dance and the location of our event was very close to a #dream place i.e. Disneyland.
And yes, we did raise some funds for our Seminarian Program which was well accounted for by Helen Alonzo, our treasurer before and took over this year by Rosalie Mendoza. This Seminarian program is very well coordinated and reported to our Board of Directors by the able chairman of the Seminarian Program, Eli Ruiz.
Yes, we welcome friends and families of our members who like to enjoy life and at the same time contribute part of their dinner fee to a worthy cause which is funding the education of our priests who devote their lives to serve the people globally.
For the year 2020. we plan to have another Pista sa Nayon but due to COVID 19 our date and time was postpone and still need to be determined at a later date plus consider the COVID 19guidelines. Our venue will be at the same location - Embassy Suites in Garden Grove, CA.
So watch for our future announcement on this website and be part of our faith community!
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