HANAMA‘ULU — Nancy Apalla of the Kaua‘i Filipino Community Council said the group that oversees the many Filipino groups on Kaua‘i cannot get stopped because of the COVID-19 virus.
“We need to keep moving forward,” she said. “That’s why I talked with the younger people, including my daughters Nannie and Juno, to become involved. They have the intelligence with all the new technology and can do things like virtual meetings and things like that.”
Nancy Apalla was installed as the group’s membership vice president. Judge Edmund Acoba administered the oath of office to nearly 35 representatives of the KFCC on Sunday at Hanama‘ulu Beach Park.
Nancy Apalla’s daughter Juno Ann Apalla was installed as executive vice president, other daughter Nannie Ann Apalla is the organization’s secretary, and husband Dr. Antolin Apalla Jr. joins Mario Trinidad, Edwin Navarro and Irenio Soriano as KFCC advisors.
“This is a big group,” Nancy Apalla said. “KFCC is involved with many community events such as the Miss Kaua‘i Filipina Scholarship Pageant. We just got through with the state Miss Hawai‘i Filipina, so you can see how important it is that the group keeps moving forward.”
Lemuel Soria took the reins as the KFCC president, Benzon Peralta is community vice presidency, Sharie Rabaino is assistant secretary, Lavern Bisarra controls the purse strings as the treasurer, and Randy Jacinto keeps everything straight as the KFCC auditor.
The leadership group is assisted with input and assistance from the KFCC directors — all nine — who added to the group that swelled to more than 25 people taking their respective oaths under a canopy of sprinkling rain at the Hanama‘ulu Beach Park pavilion, where a houseless couple shared the roof in their tent.
Marie Mendaro, Tito Villanueva, Cora Pascual, Marilou Trinidad, Ester Tunac, Rolando Tunac, Donabel Daligcon, Allan Alquisalas and Letty Ruiz are KFCC directors.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
This seems like a great organization. There’s a lot of filipinos who need help on this island. I used to be an administer at a community foundation in a different state. I think it’s great that this is a family affair but I am worried about the nepotism in this org cutting them off from funding or from maybe reaching Filipinos who need this org who are outside of their immediate family and friends. Just something to consider. Great work!