To All of You, My Friends and Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord, Peace! God is good! All the time, He is Good! After several weeks of preparation leading to our Oktoberfest 2013, and after two days- Friday- Saturday or really just 17 hours of Oktoberfest, we can now have a collective sigh of great relief, WE ALL MADE THIS YEAR’S OKTOBERFEST A HUGE SUCCESS. A lot of people came to hang out, enjoy, have fun, eat at our Food Fest. The lunch tables were always filled with people- we had the best Funnel Cake, Ice Cream Sundae, Filipino Food, Mexican Food, All American Food, Portuguese Food, Cake and Coffee, and the best Adam’s Ribs. Thanks to all of you who donated, prepared, cooked, served, sold, cleaned and manned the Food Booths. Basing on the preliminary numbers submitted to me for the sales at the Food Booths, we did even better with the two days than with the three days last year. We rented minimal items compared to the previous years and the rest of the utensils we used were either borrowed or the parish bought these items as investment for the future Oktoberfests. Francis Tanglao and Bob Rodriguez and all the Food Booth Captains and Volunteers did a spectacular job. As they have always done in the past, the Entertainment Committee did wonders, but most especially this year. I told them what I wanted to be accomplished and I got out of the way so they can execute their job; and they did their task really well. Many of the major events I asked them to do were never done before. Battle of the Bands, Community Building Games and Dog Show- are all first time events. Thanks to Jason Fish, Joel Aguinaldo and all the rest of the members of this committee. To the Bands that played and competed, all of them, God bless you for sharing your talents. Thanks to all the groups and individuals that performed last Friday and Saturday. Community Building Event on Saturday was praised by all who were there. This event brought us closer to each other and made us celebrate our being Church. Thank you to all the members of the parish organizations, choirs, ministries and OLF Teachers for being part of our crazy and fun games. Who would not enjoy the Dog Show? Thanks to all the Moms and Dads of these dogs. Thank you for showing off your dogs. The Kids’ Place was a haven of Fun. First time we did this, and what a great idea! Those two bouncers were like magnets for kids especially because we charged no ticket to enjoy these bouncers. I must admit, though, we need to do a better job of watching over the kids next time we do this, so the kids are safer and more secure. The courtyard of the school was just overflowing with kids. Those kids just took over as though this part of the church was theirs. Consolidating an area as Kids’ Place was just in my mind and throwing the idea and vision to those who I know can make these visions happen and me getting out of the way so they can execute their task. Thanks to Teresa Paulino and her team of volunteers who provided great games for the kids. Gerardo Butalid, Cristina and Ricardo Martins, Crystal Flaviano, Ronson Provido and the UTC Youth Ministry who took my suggestion less than a week before the Oktoberfest (looks more like a command, I know) and provided fun games and activities at the Kids’ Place. All of you were wonderful. Bingo, as always, was a blast. Thanks to George Zaragoza and the Confirmation Team and their volunteers who every year just continue to excite our people with how they do the Bingo. The Charismatic Prayer Group Bazaar made almost twice the amount compared to what they got last year- and they sold items only for two days. Even the CCW did well when two days of sales are compared to three days of sales. The Booth Captains for the Food Booths and the Game Booths were just all awesome. Their sacrifices are all recorded in heaven. The Kof C BEER Garden made VERY, VERY well- since the beers sold were donated, the profit was 100%. The Knights really did an awesome job starting with the Grand Knight-Merlo Estrada. Our Oktoberfest grounds were very safe thanks to the Police presence provided by the Lakewood Police Stations and the many volunteers from CFC, MFC, HFC Ushers and OLF Parents. Who cannot notice the sacrifices made by Rudy and Mila Perpinan? A lot of people bought raffle tickets as an act of gratitude to this couple for selling raffle tickets every weekend. Those from the different Parish Organizations who volunteered to sell tickets every weekend for two months-I could not even imagine the sacrifices you made to stay under the heat of the summer sun. God, who can’t be outdone in generosity will surely reward you a hundredfold. While all these were happening, Roger Pavon and Karen Hillman with their team of staff and volunteers were and still are working to make sure our financial records are clear, accurate and transparent. By all indication, as the financial reports are coming in, we did REALLY good considering the event was just for two days. Thank you to Jerry Constance, Bob Hillman, Chito Jurado , Mar Visda, Job Paja, Ronson Provido and all the Kof C Brothers who helped put up all our electricals: only the PROS can do the awesome electrical installation that you guys did- Thank You to all of you great men of the parish. And of course the nice people from St. Joseph High School who lent us their electrical supplies during Oktoberfest, many thanks to them as well. Long before the Oktoberfest 2013 happened, Hope Vega had been working on all the permits we needed, contacting the City of Artesia and the different Police Stations. Together with our Maintenance Crew- Carlos Guzman and Chris Lopez, and our fleet of volunteers, the grounds were cleaned, set-up, and prepared before the event and after the event- all items were properly returned back to our different metal storage bins. For those who have never taken part in this task- this is ONE BIG HERCULEAN TASK. If I made add, this job order is one of the MOST DIFFICULT TASKS before, during and after the Oktoberfest. When I started planning in my mind this year’s Oktoberfest long before any of the meetings started, I believed in my heart that God was leading me to re-imagine our Oktoberfest. The writing on the wall was just obvious- parking problem during the three days was just horrible; people had not been coming to our Oktoberfest because there was hardly any place to park and the event looked the same for so many years; the big rides didn’t really have many kids riding them and most of the time, they were empty; people were upset when going to Mass because the Oktoberfest took all the spaces. Yes, the raffle tickets made 90% of the profit of the Oktoberfest but for the three days of hard work, we were making very little, almost nothing. We were spending more for tents, security, rentals and other cosmetic items for the event that from the business perspective- it was such a huge loss. But how can I break from “tradition”? How can I justify the change to those who will say “we’ve always done it this way”? What if after the two days, the Oktoberfest becomes a failure and I am singularly responsible for making this call? All these I thought about even before I proposed and decided on scaling down the Oktoberfest. This event would not have been possible and be as successful as it had been if not for those who believed in the same vision of re-imagining the Oktoberfest. The Chairman of this year’s Oktoberfest, Raymond Mangahas, did an awesome job of putting everything together and making sure the plan I had set in motion would be a success. I will never know the sacrifices he had to make to ensure the success of our event. All the Parish Mentors and Staff and the members of the Pastoral and Finance Councils, Fr. Joachim and Fr. Pius- supported this vision of re-imagining Oktoberfest 2013- they did not only support it, they worked on this as well- and to a great extent by believing in my word that re-imagining the Oktoberfest was the way to go. All the members of the Executive Board of the Oktoberfest were equally responsible for the success that was OKTOBERFEST 2013. So many people from the different organizations, parents from OLF, regular parishioners made this event a HUGE SUCCESS. To all of you, my deepest gratitude. Next year’s Oktoberfest will be exciting and new, Mr. Juan Nagore and the OLF School Staff, Parents, Alumni and Students will take the lead. Fr. Raymond, MMHC Pastor
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 02:27:58 +0000
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