MOOSOMIN — Two-hundred people came out for the Pinoy Community’s lunch buffet and cultural entertainment event on July 15.
As part of the community’s commitment to raising money for the Terry Lynd Basketball Court project, the Pinoy Community raised about $2,000 from the fundraiser.
“We had more than 200 tickets prepared. We were able to sell every one of them, and there were still some people who wanted to get in,” said President of the Pinoy Moosomin Community Michael Vantomme.
“It was a really nice successful event. We were really happy with how the whole event went, and how the float for the parade turned out.”
The plan for the new basketball court in town is to build a full-size court, with an asphalt pad and a rubber coating on top.
Vantomme said he is proud the Filipino community was able to showcase their culture while also raising money for a good cause.
“It’s nice to raise some money for the Terry Lynd Basketball Court, but it’s also nice to be able to showcase our culture, to be able to perform in front of the Town of Moosomin,” said Vantomme.
“It was really special to us, even for our children to be able to perform and experience that and somehow retain what they had back in the Philipines, that way they don’t forget their Filipino heritage.”
After lunch at the event, there was a 50/50 draw and back-to-back performances of people singing and dancing to traditional Filipino songs.
Vantomme said the Pinoy Community was glad they could put on an event in town that helped contribute to a big community project.
“Our commitment to the Terry Lynd Court is $10,000. What we raised is going into what we’ve committed,” he said.
“We already got $2,600 from the bottle drive which we did two months ago.
“We just raised another $2,000 so we’re close to half of that, which is good.”
He said basketball is an important sport to the Filipino community in the area and will be well-received once the court is built.
“I was telling the Filipino folks that I know the court is open to everyone, but I think it will mostly be Filipinos that will be using the new basketball court,” Vantomme said laughing.
“Of course we want Canadians to get into the sport, the sport that we love and see everyone be able to use it.”
He said it was great to see how supportive people in the community were when coming to the cultural event.
“A big thank you to everyone for the support, for all of the kind words,” said Vantomme.
“We received nice feedback too from the community, from people thanking us, how much they enjoyed the show. A big thank you to all of those who came and even those who weren’t able to come in.
“If we can do this once a year, that would be great.”
