The latest edition of the Community Update features two significant events for the Filipino-Canadian community: the Philippine Fiesta for Smiles and Sight 2023 scheduled on Saturday, November 18, at 7 p.m. at the Vickar Ford Showroom in Winnipeg, while the SPECTRA Convention of Filipino community groups in Rural Alberta will be held in Calgary the following Saturday, November 25th.
The Winnipeg event will be hosted by Dr. Tom Colina of the Manitoba Dental Association, along with his colleague Dr. Tricia Magsino Barnabè who is also a known concert artist and theatre actress. Barnabè spoke with Community Update about the upcoming event. She was joined by Larry Vickar of the Vickar Automotive Group, the event’s main sponsor. Mr. Vickar along with his wife Tova are well-known staunch supporters of charitable projects that benefit less fortunate areas in the Philippines.
The second segment features Eusebio Cacayuran Jr., president of the Filipino Organization in the Rocky Mountains (FORM), and a finalist for Excellence in Community Service at the 2019 Golden Balangay Awards, a nationwide search for exemplary Filipino Canadians. He concurrently serves as the founding president of the Alberta Fil-Canadian Community Leaders’ Association (AFCLA), a grassroots coalition of 40-plus Filipino community groups in rural Alberta.
Cacayuran shared about AFCLA’s landmark inaugural convention dubbed as SPECTRA which stands for Sustaining People’s Empowerment in Cities and Towns of Rural Alberta. The two-day event will run from November 25 to 26 and will be held at the Best Western Premiere Calgary Plaza Hotel and Conference Centre.
Barangay Canada and AFCLA previously collaborated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Gintong Butil Project which provided relief goods and services to calamity-stricken areas in the Philippines.