Harmony Quinto shares beautiful story: she took a leap of faith and registered the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Southern Colorado, Inc. (PACCSoCo) with the State of Colorado as a 501 (c)(6) non-profit corporation in the state.
Exactly 11 months ago yesterday, I took a leap of faith and registered the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Southern Colorado, Inc. (PACCSoCo) with the State of Colorado as a 501 (c)(6) non-profit corporation in the state.
It was a decision that was not made lightly after the hours-long initial conversation with Mr. Gerry Palon, the President of the Coalition of Filipino American Chambers of Commerce (COFACC), the California-based umbrella organization of around 40 Filipino American Chambers of Commerce in the USA. I saw the merit and value in what a Chamber of Commerce can do in any community, based on my thorough discussion with Mr. Palon. I will forever be grateful to him for his mentorship, along with the guidance and support from the rest of the leadership of COFACC Corporate, and for opening a new door of community service for me.
I have also always given credit both to the leaderships of the FACSC Non-Profit: Filipino American Community of Southern Colorado (FACSC) and the Filipino-American Community of Colorado (FACC) in the taking of that leap of faith. Dr. Alex of FACSC and Ms. Vivian of FACC have both encouraged me and, because of their gentle persuasion, have both been instrumental in writing page one of PACCSoCo.
It was also only after getting the green light from the Tindahang Filipino sa Colorado (TFC) Founder Mr. Edmond Viloria and FACSC: Filipino-American Community of Southern Colorado Founder Mr. Rolando Nono, something that I requested Mr. Gerry Palon to allow me first to secure, that I forged on with the registration of what is now PACCSoCo, a non-profit with the vision of empowering the Filipino American entrepreneurs and elevating the Filipino American professionals in the community. Mr. Viloria and Mr. Nono both gave their blessings.
These four key players were later on invited to become PACCSoCo Liaison Officers for their organizations and an Advisor of PACCSoCo, gestures that I hoped emphasized PACCSoCo's desire for collaboration with their respective organizations.
After securing green lights and blessings from the FilAm community leaders, I started building PACCSoCo from the ground up. And in building the foundation of PACCSoCo, I knew I had to build the rest of the PACCSoCo Board around major pillars of the very core of the PACCSoCo leadership -- the officers in the Executive Board.
So I approached four strong, hardworking, and independent women -- people of vision, action, and integrity -- to join me in the journey. Those four women said yes, without any mental reservation whatsoever, and have been the movers of PACCSoCo ever since.
The women in the PACCSoCo Executive Board come from diverse backgrounds: law and international relations, real estate and community service through non-profits, education and entrepreneurship, health and corporate America, and human resources and federal government. About 80% of the officers of the Executive Board are military/veteran spouses as well. This diversity provides a colorful and a multi-dimensional context of ways of thinking, work ethic, and problem solving skills upon which all our discussions and decisions are made.
The road has not been easy. But the hard work, dedication, and selflessness of these four women, along with the same characteristics of what will eventually become the rest of the PACCSoCo Board, have made all the difference. The learning curve was admittedly steep the past 11 months but even that became less daunting with these four women by my side.
So as we end the year and as we start our countdown to our 1st year anniversary, I celebrate these four women -- no doubt among the best community leaders I have had the privilege to serve with -- with a gesture of gratitude to remind them of how grateful I am for each of them. Each one has played, and continues to play, a major role in PACCSoCo's evolving story.
MBM May Bonafe Morillo , LDC Lenie De Castro , JVA Dr. Jo Ann Antenor , and JVG Jen Ethan -- I see you. I hear you. I appreciate everything that you have done for PACCSoCo and for the Filipino community that we serve. This journey would not have had all its meaningful milestones and all its significant victories without each of you.
Thank you for taking that proverbial leap of faith with me 11 months ago. I have become a better leader because I have each of you to run to and to learn from.
May this early Christmas gift of a meaningful getaway, something that I pray will allow each of us to take a breather, show you just how deeply you are appreciated and loved both by Chris and me. You all have been my colleagues, my teachers, my mentors, my critics, my sounding boards, and, above all else, my most trusted friends.
May you have a meaningful Christmas with your families and may the coming year once again light up that burning desire in your hearts to give back, to do more, and to serve better -- all for God's greater glory and honor. Always for God's greater glory and honor.
We always say, we will always have PACCSoCo. This year, I wanted us to be able to add "we will always have The Broadmoor!"
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*It felt like it was the night before Christmas (...when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse!) and we had The Broadmoor all to ourselves (aside from the hotel guests and hotel graveyard shift employees who happily took our photos, of course!). Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!