Guest of Honor: Fr. Abbot Ed Africa

Attendees: (11 apostles) Mon Ortega, Al Alcantara, Ceas Anonas, Raffy Bajamundi, Jocel Razal, Jojo Padua, Euge de Guia, Sonny Alejandre, Butch Corcino, Joseph Yu, Sonny Vergel-de-Dios

Host: The Ortega Family

10:00am – Mass celebrated by SBCHS75 Spiritual Adviser Fr. Abbot Ed Africa

1. Presentation/ Discussion by Fr. Abbot – Fr. briefly discussed the beginning of the MotT in Bukidnon. From a barren 45 hectare rolling land back in 1982, the area has been transformed into a community of 6,000 with a cooperative to support daily needs. There was no water supply for years until the Benedictine monks had a pump built to provide a potable water system for the Monastery and planting fields.

People travel for miles, usually by foot, to seek help or refuge from the monks. Fr. Ed and Fr. Columbano head the group of about a dozen monks. Although started with funds from the Benedictine Abbey in Manila to purchase the land, the MotT is now a separate entity that thrives on its own fund raising, and cooperative efforts, mainly raising and selling coffee and peanuts. The monks had to learn business principles and fortunately found established customers, especially for their coffee.

Fr. Ed, who 10 years ago had a valve replaced in his heart (more serious than a bypass), is now serving his tenure as head of the Benedictine order in the Philippines. However, he respects the autonomy between Manila’s educational mission and Bukidnon’s mission for the poor. Thus, the entities are run separately.

At this time, Fr. Ed estimates that a student needs P8,000/ year to be able to afford the government’s public school system. This includes having to buying slippers or shoes, so that they do not have to walk barefoot to school. All the money collected from the "commiteds" will be used solely for this purpose.

2. SBCHS75, USA Fund raising for MotT

1. Status- Olet Abad awaits Fr. Ed’s arrival in S.F. to give him collected funds so far.
2. Fr. Ed and his cousin, Ms. Vicky Abesilla, is looking into setting up an account, as well as, setting up a non-profit organization in order to spread our efforts to other organizations.
3. Sonny VD suggested that the organization could possibly be added to United Way as possible recipient of pledges. Sonny A. on an earlier discussion with Sonny VD said he will look into this.
4. Fund raising idea from Al Alcantara- If Fr. Ed could provide a video tape of the MotT in Bukidnon, he could show it to the 60-80 sales staff of Longo Toyota, where he works. He could ask the dealership to pledge an equal amount of what the salespeople will make for a specified weekend.

1. Millennium Homecoming:

1. Review April 14 Manila Meeting notes – Consensus is that raising $25,000 is too steep, however, it is understood that it may not be attainable. With this in mind, we could keep the value as it is, if Manila decides to let it stay.

2. Fund raising, USA

1. Mon O. to look into making SBCHS75 a non-profit organization in order to make fund raising legal. Added note: In talking to my sister, she said the organization might have to submit a tax return, although taxes may be minimal.
2. Sonny A. and Jojo P. will look into setting up a golf tournament.
3. Al A. was a wealth of ideas when it came to fund raising. Salesman talaga ! ("But not all salesmen are the same"….Al A.)

1. Idea 1 - Bingo / Mah Jong party – with tong collection
2. Idea 2 – Raffle a PC – Jocel to look into prices
3. Idea 3 – originally Euge’s dream, but idea was expanded by Al, raffle a Lexus RX 300 at $100 per ticket. Only 400 tickets needed this way. Al could ask dealership if a Lexus could be displayed in showroom to entice buyers to try their luck by buying a ticket instead of the car/SUV.

1. In the end, it seemed like Idea 2 would fly the easiest/ quickest.
2. More prizes would be better for the raffle. We are asking Nor. Cal. to solicit Goldilocks. We could even sell tickets through Goldilocks. Sonny suggested 2 plane tickets to Manila as prizes or equivalent in cash.

1. Medical Mission – looks like this is on hold until SBCHS75 has enough funds, unless our doctors would like to do this on their own or lead the effort, since this is mostly their time.
2. Addresses/Phones - Membership VC Sonny A. collected addresses and phone nos. of So. Cal. Contingent. This will be typed and e-mailed or distributed to attendees on the next meeting.
3. SBCAASC - We also decided to all become members of the SBCAA of Southern California to enrich and broaden our camaraderie and knowledge of the group’s activities. Sonny V. collected fees so that he could hand it over to the SBCAA on Saturday night’s concert. Ceas Anonas and Sonny to look into tapping SBCAA to support our MotT and SBCHS75 efforts.
4. END of meeting. Special thanks to our fine chef Mr. Mon Ortega, who had to be out during the first part of our meeting to prepare the BBQ. Your hospitality is hard to match, also to your wife and 3 lovely kids.

1. May 16 w/ Fr. Ed at Mon’s place again– bring more goods for Bukidnon
2. May 21 w/ Gabby Consulta, place TBD