Tuesday, August 21, 2007 All thumbs up for Zonta 1 and Amcham By Mila C. Espina In my diary
THE Zonta Club of Cebu 1 is one of the oldest socio-civic organizations in Cebu.
It is composed of empowered women from the academe, the business and industry and volunteer groups. The Zonta 2 was founded by Zonta 1 to expand the clubs’ involvements in education, environment, protection of women and children, entrepreneurship and current advocacies. Zonta I’s major projects were the daycare centers, first in the Capitol area, then Ermita, which lasted for many years. At present, it is involved in the FZCC-Foundation of Zonta Clubs of Cebu 1-2 at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.
This project was initiated by former area director Dr. Suga Sotto Yuviengco and eventually got substantial support from the City and Province of Cebu.
Zonta 1 has an ongoing livelihood and micro-financing project in Budlaan.
The said project encourages entrepreneurship and has some ample investment help from the club. It is done in cooperation with the Women Association of Budlaan.
Cebu remembers the meaningful fund-raising projects of Zonta 1: Glamour and Glitz (1987), a fashion musicale participated by the late Angelita Lhuillier, Amparito and Margie Lhuillier, Ding Zamora, Ada Martinez, Jun Ugarte, Chinggay Utzurrum, Angelina Ong, Eleanor Go Hayco, Lisa Young, Annabel Luym, Petite Garcia, Janet Ugarte, Betty Young, and Aida Uy. It was with the special participation of Yvette and Monique Lhuillier, Claudine Darza, Amanda Luym and Stephanie Dahlman. The proceeds helped in the construction of the Ermita Daycare Center in 1986-87. Then, in the 90s we had An Evening of Songs of Frank Sinatra, followed by Love Songs from Broadway, which featured Cebu’s singing businessmen and women. They were smash hits and the income-generating events yielded enough logistics and sustained our daycare’s daily needs. All these projects were co-sponsored by the Casino Filipino Cebu.
This year, Zonta 1 president Minnie Yuviengco undertakes a new project called, Women Legends, a musical-fashion diorama featuring women who created an impact in the world! Tina Ebrada, Chabeng Garcia, Merle Cunanan, Anita Sanchez and Tess Chan head some committees.
These women legends were lifted from the Bible, history, literature, the arts, music and entertainment. The participants will wear fabulous costumes, emote some dramatic verses, sing or dance! Ah, how delightful to relive the days of Eve, Delilah, Noemi and Ruth, Salome, Cleopatra, Queen Isabella, Catherine of Aragon, Alexandra, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I and Princess Diana; or Medea, Antigone, Lady Macbeth and Juliet; Greta Garbo, Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, Aubrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe.
Added to them are Eva Peron, Marie Antoinette, Madame Pompadour. Cebu awaits this fabulous musicale in November. It will again create precedence. I am as excited as Consul Jaime Picornell whose creative ideas about this project will be most helpful. Watch for it.
AMCHAM RP-US Friendship Day
July for the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) is always reserved for the RP-US Friendship Day where Filipinos and Americans blend their talents for an evening of dining and dancing, a good time to “bond.” This year, Alice Woolbright Fernandez led the activity with the Western (cowboy) motif. Past president John Domingo and president Stan Combs spearheaded the annual project. Food, prizes and games brought some 600 guests to the days of John Wayne, Audie Murphy and Clint Eastwood. Levi’s and Big Foot provided the necessary ambiance with a Western-inspired fashion show.
Games were hilarious and prizes a-plenty! The Michael Go-Maris Araneta-Cherry- Callelero tandem was unbeatable. Added to the team were Lilu Aliño and the ever-efficient Marriott staff led by new GM, Roy Abraham.
Amcham, aside from promoting healthier economic and cultural ties between Cebu and the US, also has ongoing educational projects in an adopted baranggay and the American Resource Center (formerly the Usis), which provides wide collections of books and instructional resources to our universities.3.
