The Kalipay Story
By Gerry Felsecker - March 2006

Kalipay came into being about 10 years ago, born out of a group of friends that came together socially (in our rec room!). A number of Cebuano speaking Filipinos used to come together about three or four times a year to party in our house – a typical Filipino potluck occasion with music, dancing and games. When our basement began to get more crowded we decided we should organize ourselves as a social group, choose a name ( kalipay, which means happiness, won out over – potluck) and move to parks. From the beginning we made a point of not having officers, bylaws and structure. I think our experience was that such organization often tends to lead to in-fighting, and our friendship was the glue we needed to hold things together. Simplistic, perhaps, but successful!

Even though we never had officers, Dr. Frank Delmar and I did much of the initial work. I agreed tomintain the mailing list and to get out notices. Subsequently Carmelita Stehr joined us and now a group of 5-6 of us plans the annual August picnic. Initially we got together more often – Christmas, Valentines, Halloween and at the annual picnic. Many Cebuano speaking Filipinos and mixed couples attended regularly. Most of them were not involved with FAAWIS at the time and looked on Kalipay more as a way to meet other Filipinos or Filipino American couples rather than to take an organizational mission. They may have also heard that FAAWIS was more for professional people.

Over the years three things happened. Firstly the number of Kalipay events lessened, with only the annual picnic surviving. This event still averages about 250 attendees each year. Secondly the number of non Cebuano Filipinos who come has grown over the years and the Cebuano nature of Kalipay has changed gradually. Finally many Kalipay participants now attend FAAWIS events and find themselves very welcome there.

Kalipay’s picnic survives and each year we find newly arrived Filipinos joining us. I believe it still has a purpose insofar as it creates an opportunity to develop relationships especially with those who are new to our area. It maintains a strong ‘potluck’ philosophy – everyone has something to contribute. It tries to neglect no one and to simply enjoy getting together socially at least once a year.