MABUHAY!

In 1969, Filipino expatriates in the Greater Hartford area had an informal group that participated in social, recreational and athletic activities. Realizing that they could accomplish more by working together, the group ratified a constitution in 1972, adopted the official name Pilipinas-Connecticut and elected its first set of officers. This significant milestone marked the emergence of a potent force in the Filipino community in central Connecticut. In 1990, the organization became a non-profit non-stock corporation and changed its name to Pilipino Association of Connecticut Incorporated (PACI). Over the years, PACI’s mission expanded from a purely social focus to include civic and charitable purposes. In 2014, PACI gained its status as a tax-exempt non-profit charitable organization under section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code.
Today, PACI is an active non-profit tax-exempt organization composed of about two hundred Filipino-American families in central Connecticut. It is dedicated to serving the Filipino community through social, educational, civic and charitable activities.
PACI is committed to cultivate and preserve Philippine culture and ethnic values, and to educate Filipino-Americans about their rich cultural heritage.
• To date, PACI has produced six Filipiniana Night Cultural Shows that featured Philippine culture, folk dances, songs and culinary delights. These cultural shows encompassed PACI’s objectives: promote, cultivate and showcase our rich cultural diversity, provide an educational experience for the second generation Filipino-American youth and raise funds to support civic and charitable projects.
• PACI also has:
o Promoted greater awareness of the rich cultural diversity of the Philippines through music and dance by sponsoring performances of the Leyte Dance Group and the highly acclaimed Bayanihan Philippine National Folk-Dance Company;
o Partnered with statewide Philippine organizations to promote greater awareness of the rich cultural diversity of the Philippines through award-winning productions held in Connecticut and at the Philippine Independence Day Parades in New York City;
o Collaborated with the Noah Webster House of West Hartford to promote awareness of Philippine culture by co-sponsoring an art exhibit “Scenes from the Philippines” and presenting a lecture and panel discussion on “Immigrant Voices: Historic Perspective of the Philippines;”
o Collaborated with Camp Mabuhay North and PAAC of New Haven County to share Philippine culture and tradition with American families who have adopted Filipino children;
o Initiated a semi-formal school known as PACI Eskwelang Pinoy (PEP) to promote and preserve Filipino culture among first- and second-generation immigrant families;
o Hosted annual celebrations of Filipino traditions such as the barrio fiesta, flores de
mayo, misa de gallo and Christmas caroling
o Fostered relationships among members through monthly Filipino Catholic masses
followed by socials
PACI has fully embraced its identity as a civic and charitable organization by engaging in
projects that benefit the Filipino community in the Philippines and United States.
• Funds raised during the past Filipiniana Night Cultural Shows held in 2005, 2009, 2011,
2013, 2015 and 2017 and Golf Tournaments in 2017 and 2018 has enabled PACI to:
o Sponsor 10 scholars at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Philippine Normal
University and Eastern Visayas State University who have pursued careers in
Accounting, Education and Mass Communication
o Expand the scholarship program to sponsor more than one scholar per year
o Contribute funds to build two-classroom school buildings in the towns of Villa Pag-Asa,
Oriental Mindoro and Naval, Biliran Province in the Philippines, with the coordination of
the Philippine Consulate General in New York;
o Donate funds to the Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc. (KFCI), the first and only alleducational
broadcast and news media channel in the Philippines with curriculumbased
and life skills programming made accessible to the elementary and high school
public educational system, especially in the far-flung areas of the Philippine
archipelago where there are no teachers;
o Donate books and school supplies to underprivileged schools in the Philippines;
o Donate educational materials and learning aids for students with special needs in the
Philippines
• Funds raised during the forthcoming 7th Filipiniana Night on September 7, 2019 is
earmarked to support the “Supplemental Lunch Feeding of Malnourished Children” project
in collaboration with Your Kids My Kids Foundation, Inc.
• PACI also has:
o Provided financial assistance to several natural disaster relief efforts in the Philippines,
most notably Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), USA, Haiti and Nepal;
o Initiated efforts to collect cash, food and clothing donations for various town-, state,
and nationally-sponsored charities;
o Donated to national, statewide and international charitable organizations: American
Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Red Cross, Food Share in
Connecticut, Multiple Sclerosis, Operation Blessing Foundation Philippines, Philippine
Jesuit Foundation and UPMASA;
o Contributed to the Renovation Fund of the Father O’Connor Hall of the Church of the
Holy Spirit in Newington, CT, the site of many of PACI’s events and monthly Filipino
Catholic masses;
o Collaborated with Tulong Sa Kapwa and other Filipino-American organizations in
Connecticut to sort and pack medical and surgical supplies and equipment for use in
medical missions in the Philippines
o Collaborated with other organizations that provide aid to meet the economic, health
and educational needs of the Filipino community.

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