FilCom Center honors leaders who uplift the Filipino community in Hawaii

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hundreds gathered for a celebration of Filipino culture and community service Saturday night at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki.

The Filipino Community Center hosted its annual fundraising gala, honoring those who help uplift Filipinos in Hawaii and support the center’s mission of educating the broader community about Filipinos’ contributions to Hawaii.

The event honored longtime immigration attorney Abelina Shaw, developer Christine Camp, labor leader Gino Sequena and health advocacy group FilCom Cares, led by Amy Agbayani and Agnes Malate, for their service to the community.

Awardees and longtime FilCom supporters shared their journeys and hopes for uplifting all immigrant communities.

“Our values today are rooted in or come from generations past. When our parents and zeros worked hard. I believe in sharing with others what little they had, love for family believed in caring for the elderly, believed in the value of education and had high hopes for the children,” Shaw said in her acceptance speech.

“The center itself is not only for the Filipinos, we have activities for all local people. We have the Samoan church, we have dancing, we have immigration services, we have nursing classes, we have all kinds of activities,” said FilCom co-founder Eddie Flores. “So it’s very important for the community to understand our history, our immigrants, people in the military, we fought during the second World War, we did a lot of things that people didn’t realize that.”

FilCom co-founder Roland Casamina says he’s happy to see the next generation of leaders stepping up and hopes they continue the legacy he and Flores began more than 21 years ago.

“My kids’ generation are really the ones who’s taking over and running the event, running the center,” Casamina said.

Funds raised from the event benefit FilCom Center’s educational programs and outreach. The Center in Waipahu offers many services for free to the public.

For more information, visit FilCom.org.

For more from HNN’s special series on Filipino American History, click here.

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