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Public Employee Press
Cultivating Puerto
Rican culture for the youth By ALFREDO ALVARADO Cultivating
and Harvesting Puerto Rican Culture for the Progress of our Youth was the
theme of the 23rd Annual Puerto Rican Heritage Celebration held Nov. 13-17 at
the union. The DC 37 Latino Heritage Committee sponsored the annual
celebration, which included a ribbon-cutting on Nov. 13 and the main event on
Nov. 17, where some 400 members enjoyed great live music and tasty Puerto Rican
food. It is important to share, said Carmen Flores, vice
chairperson of the Latino Committee, as she welcomed everyone to the evenings
festivities. We have a lot more similarities than we do differences.
In keeping with the theme for the celebration,
the guest speaker was Felix Urrutia Jr., executive director of The Police Athletic
League, which serves 70,000 children in the metropolitan area. He said there are
16,000 homeless children in New York City, and 25 percent of the citys children
live in poverty. Take care of the children today so that in the
future they can take care of themselves, urged Urrutia, who was accompanied
by his parents, long-time members of SEIU Local 32BJ. Ive got union
in my blood, he said proudly. Committee Chair Santos Crespo, executive
vice president of Local 372, and Flores presented committee awards to Aurea A.
Mangual, president of the Puerto Rican Folkloric Festival; Clerical Division Grievance
Rep Frank Maldonado; and Vicente Panama Alba of the National Congress
for Puerto Rican Rights. A posthumous award went to Otilio Diaz, a founder of
La Casa de la Herencia Puertorriqueña. The best way to celebrate
Puerto Rican culture is to continue to fight on, said Alba, an executive
board member of Laborers Local 108. After all of the speeches were made and all
of the awards presented, it was time for the music, and members danced the night
away to the swinging salsa sounds of Luisito Reyes y Su Orquesta.
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