GARAGE SALE DIARIES: ENTRY # 1

Ermin Velasco writes:

I got up from bed at 5:30 sharp on the morning of Sunday, November 23. In fact, I woke up even before my alarm went off. Actually, I didn’t wake up because I was awake long before. In fact, I hardly slept (well, maybe for an hour or two). I was waiting for the appointed time for fear that I might not hear the alarm and oversleep. This usually happens when I need to be up early for a big day. I wanted to take my time before the gates open at 7:30AM (blame it on Gem!) so I took a long shower and was looking forward to having a big breakfast to sustain me for the day BUT a few minutes past 6, there were early birds ringing my mom’s doorbell. Couldn’t they read??? THE SIGN SAID 7:30 AM! Our hosts for the garage sale, my parents, haven’t even taken their breakfast yet. I must admit I got irked but since we are at their mercy (our “trash”, their treasure...most importantly: they buy, we have money), I had to internalize and reach deep down to the bottom of my soul to “un-irk” and produce a sincere, welcoming smile that, hopefully, would reach my eyes. I went out the gates and was greeted by the sun that was not even fully up yet! My gassh (abelgash!).... three very expectant early birds, hoping they would be allowed to have a private special sale. What did they think this was? The SHOE ADDICT?! Fortunately, I was wearing my winning smile already and with all saccharine sweetness and charm that I could muster I told them we still had to prepare and to just come back at 7:30 (but on my mind I was begging them to please, please come back, prithee, please).

Right after they’ve gone, I texted Mina that it was time to get moving. I was in panic mode but fortunately, I was able to go through the motions in the calmest, possible way. Together with the household help and my Mom, we took out all the items (clothes, shoes, make-up products, baby stuff, toys, Christmas decors like three 3-ft Santa images, a little tikes slide, dinnerware, a sofa bed, bags) and were able to arrange everything. Mina and her staff finally came. Made some more final adjustments and we were all set.

THE SSC HS’85 FIRST GARAGE SALE finally opened its gates at 7:30 AM.

Mina and I wanted to go and hide in the house. We were not prepared for the deluge of people coming and pushing their way in. I texted Ginge, our Ways & Means Head: !#%$*#$%^&*&$ ANG DAMING TAO! WE NEED HELP. Well, Ginge was able to get in touch with some people, assuring me that, yes, help will be coming soon.
Help did come, though not together, in the form of Chell, Sharon Santos, Racquel Maloles, Anggie Mendoza, Sharon Refuerzo and Pelita who brought ube ice-cream for merienda.

Together and with the help of our staff, we just played everything by ear. When we were sorting the night before (with Ange Lacson, Sharon Refuerzo, Nora, Leah), I thought the prices were high but it turns out, it was for the best because people really haggled and some (whether true or not) would say to us “ATE, ETO LANG ANG PERA KO” or “ATE, KULANG NA PERA KO E.” There was even a makeshift daycare area for the shoppers’ toddlers. A carton box was set-up (by whom, I do not know, but suddenly there was the box in one corner with 2-3 tots in it, waiting for their Mamas who were shopping). Our biggest shopper was one of the early birds. She purchased three thousand pesos’ worth of goods.

Mina was such a gracious and gallant cashier. There would be times she would allow a shopper to get one item free. Or, when she sees a little girl clearly so taken with a particular shirt or dress, she would either give it for free or ask any one of us if we had twenty pesos so the item could be paid for. She even had a giveaway for shoppers – a key chain. It came to a point that I wanted to sit on her lap and make a wish (her shirt had a red print so that could have passed for a costume).
If there was one thing I enjoyed in this experience, it was the bonding opportunity with our classmates. Not just during the garage day itself but during the preparations. Not any one of them was my barkada in school. Chell, I hardly spoke to. I even told her I thought of her as a diyosa in school because it seemed like all the boylets were in love with her. Sharon Santos, has always been endearing and I found her even more so now not just because of some things she shared about herself, but especially because she took the time to help, considering she did not march with us. Sharon Refuerzo, a gem. Racquel, Anggie and Pelita need I say more about you?

To those who gave their support – materially, physically, text support, in behalf of our Project Head Gem Hernandez-Abcede, who, unfortunately, could not join us on the day itself due to a family emergency, THE GARAGE SALE TEAM would like to thank all of you.

At the end of the day, it does not matter if we were school buddies or not. Different strokes for different people but we share one goal. We do want to make this work and I can see the effort of our classmates. It may be just some of us now but I know, in time, there will be more of us coming out of our shells, shaking off our fears, overcoming our shyness, unloading our excess and useless baggage, or even probably forgiving each other and even ourselves along the way.
We are the High School Class of 1985. We own that title. It cannot be taken away from us nor can we disown or deny it. It is us. It is our call to make things work. And I sincerely hope and pray that we are able to accomplish our goal.

That In All Things, God May Be Glorified!

Thanks to the members of the GARAGE SALE TEAM: Gem, Mina, Nora, Ange, Leah and Sharon Refuerzo.

Garage Sale

November 8 Meeting

Rina Azcuna-Siongco writes:

Hi everyone! Right on the heels of our 1st successful fundraiser (the 80s party), we held a meeting last Sat at Gem's Mom's house. We had pretty good attendance, and a number of items to discuss. See minutes below prepared by Liza Fernandez-Martinez. See you all at the next fundraiser - the Garage Sale!

Minutes of Meeting
08 November 2008
Hernandez Residence

Present: Ginge Pagulayan, Liza Fernandez, Mitch Lazaro, Cyrene dela Rosa, Erlaine Lee, Rina Azcuna, Kelly Espinosa, Leah Lota, Chell Balbin, Gem Hernandez, Irma Tuazon, Nora Siggaoat, Mimi Cruz, Cecile Cruz, Raquel Maloles, Ermin Punzalan, Michelle Narvaez, Anggie Mendoza, Sharon Refuerzo, Candy Melencio, Made Marante, Mina Conchu

A. Incorporation of St. Scholastica’s Manila HS 1985 Inc.

The meeting started at 5:15pm with a prayer led by Anggie. Mitch opened the meeting by giving a brief background on the establishment of the corporation, the rationale for its establishment and the people behind it:

- she and Lara (by virtue of their being our HSCB Pres and Vice Pres) were being called on by the SSAFI (St. Scholastica’s Alumni Foundation Inc) in the last 2 years for matters concerning Batch ’85 specially in relation to the homecoming
- she and Lara were being asked to run for seats at the SSAFI board
- she and Lara have touched base with older batches e.g. Batch ’83, and gleaned some understanding and appreciation of the essentials of hosting and mounting a homecoming
- since fundraising is one of the most major endeavors in preparation for a homecoming, other batches suggested the establishment of a corporation/association to give the group a legal personality and to enable the group to open a bank account and issue official receipts for the purpose

Following the advise and suggestion of other batches, Mitch and Lara, being the Vice President and President, respectively, of the HSCB during our time, thought it best to incorporate our batch and register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As a requisite for the registration, at least five (5) people were needed to sign the incorporation papers. Because of proximity and long standing relations, Mitch and Lara requested Ginge, Raquel and Rina to assist and join them in completing the registration requirements. Again, as required by the registration process and since they are the initial members of the corporation/association, they also had to register as the members of the Board and officers of the corporation. Ginge, Raquel and Rina were briefed and made fully aware of the concomitant obligations/responsibilities of being the incorporators and officers of the corporation, i.e. submission of annual reportorial requirements mandated by law such as the General Information Sheet (GIS) and the Audited Financial Statement (AFS). Mitch informed the group that the corporation is a non-stock, non-profit corporation which will not be subjected to tax, but will nevertheless be required to file a return. Mitch presented the group with the Articles of Incorporation and read them the purpose as stated therein:

“To organize members of the High School Class of 1985 of St. Scholastica’s College Manila in preparation for their homecoming in 2010 and subsequent jubilee celebrations while undertaking fundraising projects as a means of giving back to the school and fostering camaraderie among the 1985 graduates.”
Essentially, the corporation gives the batch a legal personality in dealing with possible sponsors and/or entities in relation to the homecoming activities. All contracts and payments/solicitations will be in the name of the corporation and the corporation will be able to issue the corresponding official receipts especially to entities/corporations that may require the same. Ex: instead of “Mitch Lazaro” is asking for a donation from “Company XYZ”, Mitch is asking for a donation on behalf of SSC HS 85, therefore check is issued to SSC HS 85 rather than “Mitch Lazaro.”

With establishment of the corporation, the “Board”, through Rina, proceeded to open an account with BDO. She is also responsible for setting up the Paypal account which allows batchmates from abroad to remit money for the batch activities. For proper check and balance, there are always 2 signatories to any withdrawals or disbursements from the batch account. They have also made representations with the BIR for the printing of the official receipts of the corporation. The Official Receipt was presented to the group. Ginge and Liza were asked by Lara to take the lead in organizing the preparations for the homecoming since she and Mitch are admittedly preoccupied with their respective careers. Liza and Ginge gathered all the materials from the other batches and set up a proposed organizational set-up and strategy to guide our Batch in the preparation for the homecoming.

Mitch reiterated that she and Lara, as the highest HSCB officers during our time and who felt somehow responsible for the Batch, decided on these matters, in good faith, and with the intention of jumpstarting the preparations. The establishment of the Corporation and the Board was not designed to offend anyone or to usurp any power or authority. It was just the means taken to gather and rally the Batch to the common objective.

Mitch recounted that these were all discussed during the first two meetings at the Barcino but deemed it best to discuss it again to clear the matter. Mitch repeatedly stated that the “Board” is not the deciding authority and only came to being as a requisite for the incorporation papers. They are only the people whom she and Lara requested to help out in getting things started and who have committed their time and effort to further our objective. Nevertheless, Mitch informed the group that the Board members are willing to relinquish their positions if that would be the consensus of the group.

With the clarification made by Mitch the group agreed not to disturb the present set up of the Board to be able to move forward.

B. The Core Group

With the clarification that the Board is not the deciding authority, Mitch strongly advocated the creation/formation of a Core Group or a steering committee. The Core Group will head operations, ensure there is proper coordination among the various projects, and provide communication/updates across the project teams and the rest of the batch. The core group should be people who are willing to commit their time and effort to the endeavor.

It was clarified that the board members need not be the core group itself. The group was asked to name people they would like to be in the core group. Others present were also requested to be part of the core group. Hence, as agreed during the Nov 8 mtg, the following shall form the core group:

Ginge Pagulayan – Salud (Ways and Means Committee)
Anggie Mendoza – Guanzon (Ways and Means Committee)
Rina Azcuna – Siongco (Finance Committee)
Raquel Maloles – Aldaba ( Communications Committee - Internal)
Cyrene dela Rosa (Communications Committee - External)
Ermin Punzalan – Velsaco (Homecoming Committee)
Liza Fernandez – Martinez (Homecoming Committee)
Mitch Lazaro (SSAFI rep)
Lara Parpan (SSAFI rep)


Next Step: Henceforth, Core Group to meet regularly to check on progress of the various projects. General Assemblies will be called as needed.

C. The Committee Members

The following batchmates have signed up to participate in the following committees:

Ways and Means (Anggie and Ginge)
1) Batch Party – Project Head: Pelita
Angeli Lacson, Mina Conchu, Leah Lota, Carmela Endriga, Madde
Marante, Marissa Toroba, Chichi Espiritu, Antonette Tan, Nora
Siggaoat, Gem Hernandez
2) Garage Sale – Project Heads: Mina and Gem
Angeli Lacson, Leah Lota, Nora Siggaoat
* Sharon Refuerzo and Candy Melencio willing to help
3) Badminton Tournament – Project Heads: Cyrene and Antonette
4) Movie Premiere – Project Head: Mina
5) All St. Scho Bazaar – Project Heads: Gem and Mina
6) 2010 Planner – Ginge

Finance (Rina)
Regina Garde

Communications and PR (Raquel and Cyrene)
Lara Parpan

Homecoming (Ermin and Liza)
1) Malen Manese-Isaac
2) Weng Segovia
3) Gina Garde
4) Cynthia Garcia
5) Jojo Briones
6) Maiam Villa-Real – Antonio

D. The Garage Sale

The Garage Sale will proceed as follows:

Nov 23 – church in Better Living

Pricing of items: P 20, P 40, P 50 – P 100

Commonly priced items to be placed in one box.

Candy suggested a venue in Magallanes, accessible to the Pasay residents, as site of Makati garage sale. Target date to hold this is weekend of Nov 29 (payday/Xmas bonus weekend)

Next Step: Gem and/or Mina to provide further details and disseminate such information to batch like a text brigade to drive further awareness amongst batchmates for this project. Donations of merchandise to be sold very much needed. Selling paraphernalia e.g. clothes rack, very much needed also. Gem and Mina to also communicate exact schedules involved.

E. About Miss Salazar

Anggie will be point person for this. She will coordinate with Margot Balderas of Batch ’83 and explore possibility of collaborating with them or complementing whatever donation they will make.

There is P 25,000 with Carmela from the US-based Scholasticans and some based here. Decision for its use will depend on outcome of discussions of Anggie with Batch ’83.

Next Step: Anggie will post on fb whatever is outcome of her discussion with Margot from where we will decide on action to take.

F. About Suzette Ralutin

Gem shared how Suzy intimated to her their family’s financial need for her mother’s medical treatment. The group decided to pass the hat around. Further, Gem will share with the batch, through fb, Suzy’s predicament which will hopefully generate personal contributions from batch mates.

Separately, Irma suggested that we start a fund that is aimed at extending financial help to batch mates in similar need. A cap is proposed just to set limitations. While it was seen as a noble idea, its sustainability will be a challenge. Idea will be parked for the meantime.

G. About Monthly Contributions

Each batch mate is encouraged to make a regular/monthly contribution to the batch funds. Historically, batches raise funds from personal contributions and fundraising projects. For refresher, we are raising funds for:

Teacher Chair
SSC GK
Homecoming proper

A revised pledge form will be posted on our blog sschs85.blogspot.com. Rationale for pledge form:
- basis for collection for use of point persons
- tool for forecasting our financial standing
- has also been seen to work for previous batches from SSC and other schools

The pledge form will contain several choices – from amounts of “P 100 a month” to “sorry, I cannot contribute.” Each batch mate is encouraged to accomplish the pledge form. It is completely voluntary. It is not mandatory. For those who pledge, area point persons will take care of following up their donations

Again, for reference, our bank account info is as follows:

BDO (Pioneer Highlands) s/a 4850114450
St. Scholastica’s Manila High School 1985 Inc.

This will also be indicated in the pledge form.

Contributions may be deposited directly to the above account. Or checks may be issued to the above name and be given to any of the core group members who may make the deposit themselves.

Batchmates abroad may use the PayPal method to send their contributions.

Below are area point persons assigned from Oct 4 mtg:
Manila – Leah Lota
Makati – Gem and Rina (kindly include San Juan/Mandaluyong residents Kelly Espinosa, Hannah Peralta and Lara Parpan)
Paranaque/Las Pinas – Ermin and Nora
Pasig – Cyrene and Pepsi
Quezon City – Ginge and Liza
Canada – Babette Gojo
Europe – Socky
US East Coast – Meg Cabrera
US West Coast – Annette Mijares
Asia – Lee/Scho/Sonia
Australia/NZ – Bernie/Gemma

Next Steps:
1) Revised pledge form to be released by Lara/Rina/Raquel.
2) Anggie and Ginge to communicate with point persons for dissemination.

H. Movie Premiere

Mina is in charge. Tentatively targeted for April 2009 pending available movies. May move depending on choice.

Next Step: Mina to explore line-up of movies for 2009 and select along with core group.

Sharon suggested exploring stage productions as well like plays and musicales.

Next Step: Rina to explore list of stage productions for 2009 and will share.
Ermin will explore Tanghalang Pilipino productions for next year.

I. Badminton Tourney

Cyrene and Antonette in charge. Set for June 2009. We can source capital from our funds provided returns are significant.

Next Step: Cyrene to progress on this with Antonette and share with Core Group.


The meeting ended with the usual exchange of pleasantries. The Core Group will set next meeting for progress report.



Prepared by:

LIZA MARTINEZ

P100K profit? Yes, we can!

Hey girls! A message from our former HSCB president, Clara Parpan:

October 14, 2008

Hello Everyone!

It’s less than two weeks to go before “So Totally 80’s”— our joint dance party with our batchmates from Ateneo and Assumption HS ’85 on October 24, Friday. While you won’t find me there channeling Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Gos in a shoulder padded-blouse and hair sprayed high with Aquanet with streaks of neon green running through it, I’m looking forward to reliving the music and the dancing, which we all have to admit, was pretty cool and still is in the 21st century!

I’m sending this message hoping that I, on behalf of the St Scho Manila HS 85 Inc board (Mitch, Rina, Liza, Ginge, and Raquel), can solicit your support by purchasing the 111 tickets we have yet to sell. We have a total of P58,000 to be collected (so far) from three sponsors and committed ticket sales. That is amazing! Thank you to all who bought tickets and solicited donations from sponsors! Out of this P58,000, P48,000 is profit for us already. We have already paid our share for the expenses so anything else is icing on the cake.

That icing on the cake becomes sweeter if we can just push ourselves a little bit more and help sell the last 111 tickets. If we can do that, it means an extra P55,500; making our profit from this activity just over P100,000! You can be assured that this amount goes directly to our batch only; into the savings account we have set up in the name of the (non-profit) corporation—St Scholastica’s Manila High School 1985 Inc. (We are duly registered with the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission.)

To our classmates in Manila, Cebu or anywhere in the country, let’s try to take on another two or more tickets. It’s equivalent or even less than that fancy lunch or dinner out complete with the glass of wine, or that hair-root coloring and highlights job from the salon (I get those!) we can afford on a regular basis.

Getting the tickets and paying for them are very easy--the tickets are with Liza Fernandez-Martinez and Raquel Maloles-Aldaba. Contact Liza at lizamartinez84@yahoo.com or Raquel at raldaba@adb.org. They will be at the party venue on October 24 if you’d like to get tickets on the night itself. But it’s even better if you can call or email them ahead to reserve tickets.

To our classmates abroad, I’d like to make this special appeal: May I prevail on you to buy some tickets as a donation to this first fundraiser? A US$20 or 15-euro donation is most welcome! On this blog, you’ll find news on how the homecoming preparations are shaping up, as well as a PayPal button for you to send your donations. Payment via this method is secure; all you have to do is click on the button.

Our homecoming committee treasurer, Rina Azcuna-Siongco, will take note of donations made locally and abroad and will issue official receipts. Since we are registered with the SEC and have official receipts issued by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, all financial transactions must and will be recorded accordingly.

We all lead busy lives whether we’re moms or career women, and while we all agree that we want to give back to the school we spent some memorable years in, we want to have fun while we’re at it! Buying tickets to “So Totally 80’s!” is one way to do it, whether we’re here in Manila, Asia, the East Coast or Europe! To those abroad, you will be with us in spirit and more importantly, your gesture of support will go a long way to helping us raise funds for our intended beneficiaries—a teacher chair to support teacher training and development, and the Gawad Kalinga village for St. Scho’s loyal but needy employees.

Just 111 tickets to go girls! We can do it!

Let’s cheer for St Scholastica!

With warmest regards,
Clara / Lara Parpan

The more the merrier!

Liza F. Martinez writes…

Attendance seems to be growing with each meeting. Barcino at The Fort was, once again, witness last 04 October 2008 of the encouraging turn-out of batch ‘85’ers who are gung ho about our coming silver jubilee in 16 months! Yikes! That’s just 2 Christmases away! But we shouldn’t worry, not if you saw the kind of energy that filled the second level of the bar that afternoon…okay, that evening.

There were exactly 23 attendees. Although not all 23 arrived at exactly the same time. So while I was presiding, exchanges of pleasantries pleasantly interrupted the meeting. Yes, pun intended. As Pelita Peralta-Uy said, there has to be 2 minutes of scuffle every time someone arrived. And why not! Most of us had not seen each other for 20 years! I would name all the attendees but it might fill up this space. Just check out the pictures taken from the cameras of (not necessarily BY) Carmela Endriga-Honrado, Kathy Avellana-Asuque and Gem Hernandez-Abcede. If I missed anyone, apologies please. I was too busy selling tickets and signing up people for committees.

We shared the groundwork with the bigger group and vowed to move forward. People were assigned per geographical area to follow up batchmates for the monthly collections. The 15th of each month starting in October was the agreed collection date for the monthly contributions. While the BDO account is welcome, Made Marante suggested that we open another account with a big network for an even easier accessibility. Raquel Maloles-Aldaba will look into Metrobank as a second account.

With the first fundraising event happening on 24 October, tickets moved. Although not as briskly as we had hoped. Sad face here.  But I have to acknowledge Carmela, Rowie Gallos-Marquez , Kelly Espinosa, Analei Atienza and Racquel for responding to a request the night before and getting their complete share of the tickets. Thanks too to Made, Kathy, Lara Parpan, Meg del Rosario-Isleta, Malen Manese-Isaac, Gem, Ermin Punsalan-Velasco for purchasing tickets. Thank you so much for your quick response. It’s inspiring. Naks! There are more tickets with me and Raquel. Just contact us if you want to get some. Please see Lara’s letter rallying support for the October 24 event. A profit of P100,000 is within our reach, if we all pull through and give just a little bit more.

We discussed developments with other proposed projects. The bazaar became a garage sale. Target date: Nov. 16. Ermin kindly volunteered her mother’s house in Better Living, Paranaque and also her clinic as storage area. Stand by for updates on this. Project Head Nora Siggaoat-Pinga will give us updates and a timetable for next steps.
Pelita talked about the ball which we later agreed to turn into a party. Remember the Corinthian Gardens Clubhouse? Hehe. We’ll try to bring back those days. Again, stand by for more updates on this. Pelita will share with us a project plan so we know what financials we’re talking about and what our responsibilities will be like.

Before mayhem erupted, we got most everyone to sign up for their respective committees. Check out the Minutes for Committee Members as well as detailed agreements and people with assignments. After the sign-up, the customary picture taking. What’s a meeting without this right? Expect more photos in the meetings to come. Even after this gathering adjourned, a big part of the group went on to have dinner at a nearby restaurant. But that probably deserves another blog entry…

The steering committee meets

Ginge Salud writes:

Let’s call it a successful meeting of minds at Barcino Forbestown in Bonifacio Global City. Considering that we called this get-together at such short notice, it was a well-attended gathering. Lara T. Parpan, Michelle B. Lazaro, Raquel Maloles-Aldaba, Rina Azcuna-Siongco, Liza Fernandez-Martinez, Ermin Punzalan-Velasco, Rowie Gallos-Marquez, Gem Hernandez-Abcede, Pelita Peralta-Uy, Analei Atienza, Anggie Mendoza-Guanzon, Cyrene de la Rosa, Mina Conchuwere there. Liza and I chaired the meeting.

In summary, we’re all agreed on a scaled-down Homecoming celebration. Taking into account today’s harsher times, the group agreed to incorporate the Homecoming must-haves (such as the mass, awarding of medals and the turnover of the batch donation) but skip the program with the song and dance numbers and a grand celebration in favor of a dinner-dance party. Off-hand, the idea of a Prom-themed dinner-dance appealed to the group, considering our 2010 Homecoming falls on Sunday, February 14.

While the exact beneficiary has not been named, Mitch broached the idea of uplifting the standards of a Scholastican education through programs that will help improve the quality of teaching – thus, we are looking at being able to support continuing education units, grants or short courses abroad for select faculty members. The group was agreeable with this and will find out more about needs such as this through future meetings with the SSAFI board members (St. Scholastica’s Alumni Foundation, Inc.). Target is to be able to name the beneficiary by year-end.

Also finalized was the amount we will target to raise. It was reiterated that an achievable goal be set, thus the amount of P1.0M. Any amount beyond this will be a welcome bonus and shall be disbursed accordingly. Given this, all were ready to get the ball rolling on the monthly membership contributions. Each batchmate’s commitment to pitch in shall be formalized via the Alumni Pledge form which has been posted on the blog: http://sschs85.blogspot.com.

Likewise, a Pay Pal account has been set-up, especially for batchmates abroad. For those in the country who wish to make regular payments through the Batch ‘85 account, bank details have also been posted on the site. Regular meetings building up to 2010 will continue to happen hence. We have officially mobilized so batchmates, get involved! It’s going to be an exciting year ahead – with lots of time to work together, although you may best see these as opportunities to catch up and get re-acquainted with one another.

We set a two-hour meeting, but actually finished this with all meeting objectives achieved in an hour, with lots of time to spare for catch up and sample some of Barcino’s wines. We all left more confident to take on the challenge posed by Homecoming 2010.

Please click here to view the minutes of this meeting for detailing the decision and agreements made. We’ll keep you posted!

August 28 Meeting

Lara writes: Life sometimes gets in the way, so after a five-month hiatus, we decide to meet again at The Podium. This time, we’re a bigger group. The attendees are myself, Ginge, Raquel, Rina (now Azcuna-Siongco…she got married on June 15!), Alicia Colby-Sy, Ermin Punsalan-Velasco and Rowie Gallos-Marquez.

I’ve taken the liberty of re-posting the minutes. This appeared on our SSCHS ’85 Facebook account on September 2, 2008. Click here to view the minutes.

I. Fund-Raising Activities
Among others, the meeting dwelt on how we are going to do the fund-raising, and the following were forwarded and are to be pursued:

1) participation in bazaars
2) 80s / Oktoberfest party with Ateneo HS 85
3) movie premiere

For 1), Ermin and Rowie will be the ones to start the ball rolling. Ermin has already contacted Gem Hernandez-Abcede and Nora Siggaoat-Pinga since they already have experience in joining these events. In this regard, everyone is being invited to join the meeting on Sep 13, noon (lunch, yum!) at a still-to-be-announced place (Makati). Agenda will be:
a. schedules of bazaars and which ones we will join
b. products to be sold
c. other suggestions for other fund-raising events will also be discussed. Nora has forwarded the suggestion of a badminton tournanament and this will be discussed at the Sep 13 meeting as well.
Have also talked to Meg del Rosario-Isleta and she is amenable to selling her delectable baked goods. Others who have products that can be sold are very much encouraged to attend. Products from the US courtesy of Scholasticans residing over there are certainly most welcome.
Gem needs a headcount of who will be attending so we can determine where we will hold the meeting. Please indicate attendance on my, Ermin's, Gem's, or Nora's walls.


For 2), Rowie will contact Fritz of 4-I through hubby Bernie regarding the OktoberFest/80s party. (Update: It's Anton Bengzon of Ateneo 4B who has made headway in the party preparations. Have contacted him already and the venue will be at Warehouse 135, 135 Yakal St., Makati - near Makati Police Station. It will be on October 24, Friday. Schools involved are Ateneo, SSC, and Assumption (HS 85). Each school will have 300 tickets to sell. A meeting will be held this week to discuss further details.)

For 3), Ginge has taken on the responsibility of staging a movie premiere, but any help will surely be appreciated.

For Scholasticans in the US, it was recommended that Annete Mijares start the activities for those on the West Coast, and Meg Cabrera-Savady for those on the East Coast (Meg has already accepted).

II. Updates
Rina A. Siongco will develop a blog or some such other technology thing that will allow everyone to be updated on developments leading to our 2010 Homecoming. This is expected to be up by Sep 15. It will also include a button that will allow for donations (PayPal).

III. Recipient of Funds
The funds to be raised will go to SSC for their scholarship and other programs and also to a cause or causes which is still up for identification. If you have suggestions, feel free to recommend.

We have roughly a year and four months to raise funds. We hope that everyone will be able to participate in the activities and have a jolly good time in the process.:-)

Will inform you of the upcoming meeting's venue the week before the 13th. See you then!

Thanks again, Rowie, for drawing this up. I’d like to add that during the meeting, I brought up the issue of holding a more-scaled down celebration. I attended three homecomings in the last six years (2002, 2003 and 2008) and noticed that each homecoming, which is traditionally hosted for all jubilarians by the silver jubilarians (in this case, our batch for 2010) was getting more extravagant each year. In a March 2008 meeting with Margot Balderas-Torres of Batch 1983, she told Mitch and I that their batch had to raise P700,000 for the homecoming night (including program and dinner) on top of raising funds for their batch’s beneficiary. Margot also noted that there were only 3 of them in their batch who worked on organizing this before other classmates came on board in the months running up to the homecoming.

Given the high oil prices and overall economic situation, I felt it would be better for the batch not to have a grand homecoming and to direct all efforts to fundraising for our batch’s beneficiary, to be decided on before the end of this year. Lara pointed out that in Batch 1983’s experience, 50 percent of donations came from the batch and 50 percent from sponsorships.

Ginge and the others suggested holding a reunion, but one that would only be for Batch 1985. A simple turnover ceremony of funds raised could be held, along with a mass, and then a dinner/party for the batch. This was agreed on by everyone. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some classmates who may have other opinions regarding this matter.

Alicia brought up the possibility of Gawad Kalinga being one of the beneficiaries; we could get involved in this through an inter-school fundraising for GK, which she says the other schools of batch 85 are involved in. She will bring more info in the next meeting.

Getting Started

Lara writes: Ginge Pagulayan-Salud, Mitch Lazaro, Raquel Maloles-Aldaba, Rina Azcuna and myself met at The Podium to discuss the name to be used in incorporation. Mitch suggested incorporation rather than foundation status would better serve our needs since reportorial requirements for the latter are more stringent and requires a higher paid-up capital that we cannot afford. Special thanks to Mitch for facilitating the filing of these papers and getting us incorporated.

The name of the corporation is decided; It’s “St Scholastica’s Manila HS 1985, Inc.” Something brief and straight to the point. The primary purpose of the group, as stated in the articles of incorporation, is: “to organize members of Batch ’85 in preparation for their homecoming in 2010 and subsequent jubilee celebrations while undertaking fundraising projects as a means of giving back to the school and fostering camaraderie among the 1985 graduates.”

The officers are:
Lara Parpan, president
Ginge Pagulayan-Salud, VP external
Raquel Maloles-Aldaba, VP internal
Rina Azcuna, treasurer
Mitch Lazaro, corporate secretary

If you want to see a copy of the articles of incorporation, please email Mitch at mitch18@pldtdsl.net.

I would like to reiterate that the board came together by default, since we work and live in the same area and wanted to get the ball rolling on fundraising efforts. The positions were allocated amongst ourselves, but this was for the purpose of filing the incorporation papers and thus being able to solicit funds as soon as possible, while accounting for monies received appropriately. None of us are power-hungry, stage-grabbing players! I, Lara, may have been the ID-confiscating, “no-eats in class”, HSCB president and disciple of Ms Salazar, while Mitch was lording it over the athletic teams 23 years ago, but that sure isn’t the case now. (LOL!)

A footnote: a group of us met last July 2007 at the Manila Polo Club (thanks again to Mitch!) to lay the initial groundwork for the homecoming committees and introduce what had to be accomplished in the next few years. The focus for the rest of 2007 was to complete as best as possible a batch directory that was started by Raquel Maloles-Aldaba. Thank you, Raquel! I really think that if it wasn’t for her, we’d still be scrambling to get classmates onboard.

Please email Raquel at raldaba@adb.org if you wish to be added to the list, or have revisions to make regarding your contact details.