Since 1991, the Filipino Association of Greater Columbia has been bringing people together through culture, community, and service.

Learn More About Our Journey

Archive materials courtesy of Noel & Helen Alon

Learn More About Our DANCE TROUPE

FAAGC Dance Troupe video clips

Three photos showing donation and charitable activities. The first photo features two women holding a check from Harvest Hope Food Bank. The second photo shows three women presenting a large check at an event with a charitable organization banner. The third photo depicts four people, including a woman receiving a donation from a woman sitting in a wheelchair, in a room with a decorated Christmas tree.

Learn More about our Charitable Efforts

Since its formation, FAAGC has been involved in charitable activities — from providing funds and goods to calamity victims in the U.S. and the Philippines to donations to Philippine orphanages to participation in other organizations’ charity events.

Our recipients have included:

  • The Hospicio de San Jose Orphanage in Metro Manila.

  • The Catholic Relief Services for the relief of the victims of Typhoon Ondoy and Typhoon Yolanda (Hainan)

  • San Vicente de Paul Orphanage in Manila

  • SOS Village in Tacloban, Leyte

  • The ERDA Foundation helping children in Metro Manila

  • The Philippine National Red Cross for relief of Philippine calamity victims and for its special educational projects

  • ABS-CBN Foundation’s Sagip Kapamilya project addressing relief needs of victims of natural calamities such as Typhoon Yolanda.

  • Harvest Hope Food Bank to help South Carolina 2015 flood victims.

  • The American Red Cross to help calamity victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

  • Ronald McDonald House Charities of Columbia, SC, which provides low-cost board and lodging facilities to out-of-town families with children being treated at local medical facilities.

  • Bantay Bata 163, the child welfare arm of ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, Inc., for its Bantay Edukasyon Scholarship Program.

  • Tahanang Walang Hagdanan (House with No Stairs), which provides facilities, support, therapy, educational training and livelihood opportunities, among others, to persons with disabilities.

Celebrating Our Scholarship Recipients 

The FAAGC Scholarship Program grew from a belief present since FAAGC’s earliest years: preserving a community also means investing in the young people who will carry it forward. Although a youth scholarship had been discussed since the Association’s founding in 1991, the program was formally established in 2002 by the FAAGC Executive Board through the initiative of then-President Peter Liunoras (2001–2003). The first FAAGC Scholarship was presented to Raymund Elamparo the following year at FAAGC’s 13th Annual Gala. 

Since then, generations of FAAGC members and families have sustained the program through donations, raffles, food sales and other fundraising efforts. From 2004 to 2010, the Ridge View High School Fil-Am Youth Club, under the direction of Peter Liunoras, also raised funds to support the scholarship. 

An important new chapter began in 2021, when longtime FAAGC member and supporter Dr. Francisco S. Sy established and endowed the Dr. Francisco S. Sy Scholarship Fund of FAAGC, helping strengthen the program for future generations. 

Throughout its history, the scholarship has recognized more than academic achievement. Recipients are selected in part for their involvement in FAAGC and the broader Fil-Am community, and many grew up participating in Association activities—including as members of the FAAGC Cultural Dance Troupe. 

More than two decades after the first award, the scholarship remains a reflection of the community that created it: members investing in young people who have themselves helped carry forward FAAGC’s culture, traditions and spirit of service. 

View Past Recipients