COMMUNITY CENTER

Story & History

The Filipino American Cultural Center (Formerly the Filipino Community Center)

Where are we now?

By Guily Fontillas, Past President, Filipino Community of Sacramento and Vicinity, Inc. and Pacific Rim Heritage Foundation

There are three major reasons why we should be excited to push for the construction of our own community center.  First and most importantly, we own the 1.9-acre lot at the corner of 66th Avenue and East Southgate free of any encumbrances.  Second, we have submitted all the architectural drawings and consultant renderings to the Sacramento County Planning Department for Plan Check (review of drawings) on July 27, 2005.  Third, we have organized the Pacific Rim Heritage Foundation as a tax-exempt entity for our donations.

What is the next step in building the Filipino Community Center?  When the plan check is completed, we can then file our application with the county to begin construction.  But before we discuss the filing of our construction permit, let me regress just a little:

In February 2002, we began our letter writing campaign asking for donations from Filipinos in Sacramento and all over California.  By the end of December 2003, we were able to raise approximately $150,000 in cash and another $150,000 in pledges.  Our cash donations came from the Mrs. Philippines Contest, the Annual Spring Brunch, the December 2002 Gala Event sponsored by Dr. Jose Ramirez and Cora Sy, and from individual donations.  (The bulk of the cash donations came from individual donors.)

By December 2004, we were able to raise an additional $50,000 with the Mrs. Philippines Contest, the Annual Spring Brunch, Sale of bricks to individuals, and again, the bulk came from individuals who wish to make a contribution to our building project.  

While these fund raising events were taking place, we continued to work with Hoshida and Reyes architectural firm and various consultants to finish our construction plan.  We invited Sigma Engineering (through Mr. Mel Tarog), Cole, Yee, Schubert and Associates (through Mr. Vic Golveo), German Engineering, Harry Yee Associates, Raney Geotechnical, and MTW Group (through Mr. Clarence Mamuyac, Jr).  All of these consultants generously charged only one-third (1/3rd) of their normal fee.  Mr. Mamuyac of MTW Group donated his consulting fee of $7,500 to our project and Mr. Lito Reyes donated $10,000 of his professional fee.  In all of these architectural and consulting works, we spent about $130,000.

I, also, want to tell you that Pete Lumbang who works at M P Allen general contractors donated his services to provide us with construction cost estimates.

On July 27, 2005, we submitted all the drawings to the County Planning Department for a Plan Check.  Our plan is being reviewed by the County.  Here, we spent another $24,000 to file for the plan check.  To date, Hoshida and Reyes have received some comments on the drawings and are waiting for the final result of the review.  When the Plan Check is complete and we have received all the comments, we must review them again and submit our corrections to the County Planning Department one more time.  There is no charge for this submission.

After the Plan Check, what is next?  We can then file for the permit to begin construction and the filing fee is approximately $130,000.  And here is our biggest problem: To date, we do not have the money to pay for the filing fee.  And what is worse?  We do not have the money to begin construction!!!

We need your help.  Your $100 donation now will be a tremendous boost to help build our own cultural center.  If you wish to help, please make your donation to the Pacific Rim Heritage Foundation and send it to P.O. Box 292160, Sacramento, CA 95829-2160.  The Foundation is a tax-exempt entity.  We will send you an acknowledgment of your donation so you can claim it on your federal income tax return.