The Mid-Year Meeting of the Balikatan Board was held on February 14-15 at the beautiful residence of Vincent Nigro and Lilia Salazar-Nigro located on a hillside in scenic Vacaville, California. It was attended by six board members, namely, Landy Ancheta, Lilette Cruz, Fe Echipare, Ray Nayre, Lilia Salazar-Nigro and Mila Pascual. Bethel Skinker was unable to come as she was working on the preparations for the upcoming Balikatan Conference 2009 which will be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was available for the Board meeting through a phone conference.

Highlights of the meeting include a devotional and sharing of praises and prayer requests amongst the board members and prayer time. The Board also reviewed the ideas and thoughts that were shared by the general membership in the Balikatan 2008 Conference regarding the topics “Balikatan in the next 25 years” and “Evaluation of the Balikatan’s Objectives”. In response to the ideas raised, several projects will be initiated by the various committees.

Among them were the
1.) improvement of the Balikatan website to accommodate more activities and updates in the near future and
2.) initiating a sustained membership drive to reach all IVCF Alumni in North America.

The Board also initiated a discussion on identifying the needs of the IVCF staff that can be addressed by the giftedness of retired or visiting IVCF alumni.

Ray, Lilette, Mila, Fe, Lilia & Landy

The Board also recognized that, with the potential increase in the volume of Balikatan administration work, including website monitoring, it may be necessary in the near future to have a part-time paid staff for Balikatan. The Board also shortened the time allotted for business meetings at Balikatan Conference from 5 hours to 2.5 hours to give ample time for other similarly important activities.

The Board attended a Sunday Worship Service at a nearby church and resumed meetings in the afternoon. The meeting was adjourned February 15 at around 6pm.The Board would like to extend its deep appreciation and thanks to Vincent and Lilia Nigro for their hospitality and to Efren Echipare for being the devotional speaker and cook during the board meeting.

By Mila Pascual, milapascual@bellsouth.net