Answering The Dr. Ureta Center inquiries
July 23rd, 2008Hi, Brods Arnold, Brods and Sis, and Everyone
In August 2007, for the fourth time in my 25-year career with the U.S. Postal Service, I lost my position. I did not get my current position until January 2008. Because of the demands of the new position (supervisor of Distribution Operations/facility safety coordinator/program evaluation guide [PEG] coordinator/In-Plant Support operations support specialist), I made my job a priority until last month when our Stockton Plant was PEG-audited. Now, I am back in full Alpha Phi Omega business. I will try my best to answer in the most timely manner every inquiry and comment about Alpha Phi Omega’s The Dr. Librado I. Ureta Center global gift-giving program.
Thanks, Arnold, for your most enthusiastic message. I will respond to inquiries I was able to save or remember in the immediately following post. Included will be e-mails from Brod Arnold Mapoy from the East Coast; Sis Analiza Marfori in Milan, Italy; Sis Dr. Belle Tumbokon in Toronto, Canada; Sis Nora Cortez-Quibal in the Midwest; Brod Ben Castro from the West Coast; Brod Miles Ordillas in the Philippines; and Sis Susan de Ono Laset in Nagoya, Japan. (Everyone, if you sent me a related message, please jog my memory by forwarding the message to me.)
Our APO’s The Dr. Ureta Center timeline is brief by design. The seed of the idea was conceived during an APO-Central Valley of California-AA meeting in November 2006. The Dr. Librado I. Ureta Foundation greenlighted the idea in January 2007. The Tagaytay City convention of May 2007 created a task force to pursue the idea. On March 12, 2008, Brod Librado “Bado” I. Ureta’s 103rd birthday, APO-Philippines (including its international foundation launched in the 1990s) and The Dr. Ureta Foundation (also a 1990s creation) partnered to launch the program. Our APO’s The Dr. Ureta Center’s initial goal is to raise PhP10 Million to fund the expansion of the national headquarters of APO-Philippines. And we wish to complete this building project by March 2, 2010, the 60th anniversary of APO in the Philippines.
Plans are under way to make The Center a nonprofit corporation in the Philippines. As such, The Center will have its own board of trustees. Our model is APO-USA’s Alpha Phi Omega Endowment Fund. Its trustees of seven (7) are composed of three (3) nominees by the Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity and four (4) selected from the APO pool of trustworthy members. The trustees elect a chair; this has been occupied by a past national president of APO-USA. The current chair is Brother Wilfred Krenek, a PNP, vice-chair of ICAPO (International Council of APO; Brod Chato Marinas is chair), a recent visitor (May 2007) of the Philippines, and the Fall 2008 pledge class namesake honoree.
The incumbent national president is an endowment nonvoting advisor, and the incumbent national executive director is the nonvoting secretary of the board of trustees.
Brod Mel V. Adriano, APO-Philippines national president and I, as president of The Dr. Ureta Foundation, are working on a similarly set up foundation.
Assemble college men and women in a fraternal organization to develop Leadership, promote Friendship, and provide Service to humanity is the main purpose of APO. Therefore, for APO-USA and its funding entity, the Alpha Phi Omega Endowment Fund, APO-Philippines and The Center foundation in the works, members are our main customers.
If we look at time in a linear manner, from left to right, prospective members are APO’s past, brods and sis on campus are present, and alumni brothers and alumnae sisters are future. As a fellow alum, I look at our work through The Center as an investment to secure our future.
What if APO, when we were just joining, assisted graduating high schools to have a good start in life? Bado was an example of this, because, as an orphan, he had to put himself through college by applying for scholarships. How can APO provide assistance on a national scale?
What if APO made Leadership, Friendship, and Service programs available to the youth in college? Bado was a scouter, and, through the Scouting program, was able to interface with Brother Sol Levy and the other scouters from Far Eastern University (Alpha chapter) and National University (Beta). How can APO be best equipped to train college men and women?
What if APO had all the technological tools available in the not too distant past? They are available now: How can APO use them to full advantage?
Your guess is right. Money. It takes money to make things happen. Money and lots of it. We each do not have a lot of money, but we each have some money.
What if we pooled our hard-earned money to fund the programs of APO-Philippines in schools, colleges, and universities? We fund to have a heads-up presence in high schools, subsidize active (current or resident) brods and sis to make APO membership affordable in these hard economic times, and, to document our work through the years — past, present, and future, we house our legacy in The Center museum.
The Dr. Librado I. Ureta Center aims to provide more office space for the APO-Philippines national staff; allocate training and meeting rooms; open a store for official APO merchandise items as well as for members’ products on a consignment basis; encourage scholarly research by students in the library of books and other printed matters, CDs, DVDs, and other archival media; rent out information technology systems and serve food in the Internet cafe; and collect and display memorabilia in a museum.
All these at PhP10 Million? That is an initial goal to prove to ourselves we can do it. An APO building is, by design, a tangible proof. Our ultimate goal is to keep raising funds to ensure APO-Philippines can do its job for and on behalf of its past, present, and future members. And part of the goal is to secure our investment in us — APO’s future, present, and past.
The Center, therefore, is to become that secure place for our hard-earned investment money. Through a physical brick-and-mortar facility, through a global gift-giving program that is transparent in the capable hands of our most trustworthy fellow APO stakeholders, we secure a place for APO members to be responsible participating citizens in the business of running a greater nation and making a better world.
How to participate in Alpha Phi Omega’s global gift-giving program very shortly.
True to Alpha Phi Omega, may we always be,
Brod Mel S Gonzales Jr
APO-RP Eta Zodiac 1973D 04971 Life Member
APO-USA Gamma Beta 1984 792 182567