The early snow almost put a damper on our Halloween fundraising party but our loyal supporters came out in full force anyway, and our party turned out to be a huge success. The most important part is that we met our fundraising goal so our UP scholar gets our support for one more semester!

We would like to thank everyone who supported us in this effort, both the quiet and the more active supporters. In these times, we hope that you will never tire of sharing your blessings with the less fortunate.

Special thanks to our DJ Rene Generoso and his assistant Anthony, and to Gabe Marquez and his friends for the mini-concert!

As always, we thank our faithful supporter, Seven Seven Softwares, for always being there when we need them! We would also like to thank Leo Alquiros of Tropical Hut Catering for donating part of our food for the evening.

Many thanks to those who generously donated but could not attend the party.

Thanks to the volunteers, members and colleagues plus their families who spent time, money and effort to make this a fun fund raising event!  May you all continue to support FITG in all our future projects!

Finally, congratulations to our various contest winners, namely:

• 50/50 winner : Ruth Rogacion (thanks for donating the other half also)
• Candy corn guessing contest winner : Aaron Agcaoili
• Best costume (kids) : Bash de Guzman
• Best costume (individual) : Ray Marquez
• Runner-up : Xenchie Tongson
• Best costume (couple) : Denise Samonte and Christan Lim
• Best witch : Jeanette Melgar

4H Hall at 645 Cranbury Road, East Brunswick, NJ 08816

Sunday, October  30, 2011                      2 – 7 pm

Advance ticket:  $15 adult; kids 12 & below $8       Gate: $20 adult; kids 12 & below $10

For more information,  contact  Rod Barela at  (732)387-8757

In the meantime, mark your calendars and leave the date open!

Yes, it’s been ten years! It seems like yesterday when we were just talking about setting up an organization, consulting with lawyers and accountants, coding (yes, actually coding!) our website in HTML/Javascript and ASP, convincing people to lend their talents to our cause, getting burned out, etc etc. I think most of us never realized what it took to get an organization like this going. But that’s a story meant for another article…

For now, I’d like to talk a little bit about this new site. We have tried to include everything you’d like to know about FITG here – past, present and future. At the bottom of the front page you’ll see a list of our projects and events. We’re still trying to complete the write-ups for these but once that’s done, you should be able to see all the stuff we’ve done and continue to do today. If you have anything to contribute at all – your own experiences during an FITG event, pictures, videos, etc. – please send an email to admin @ fitg.org (remove the spaces please; we put those in to fool the spam bots).

We’ve also added a few features to the site to help with our fund-raising efforts. At the top right, you will find a PayPal Donate button. If you would like to make a donation to FITG using a credit card or PayPal account, you can do so by clicking on that button.  We have also become an Amazon.com associate so if you need to buy books (or anything that Amazon sells really), please do it through our store by clicking on any of the Amazon.com links on the page.  FITG will get 4% of the  sale amount back (with a few exceptions).

As we launch this new site, we hope to re-invigorate FITG and get those volunteer juices flowing again. We took a little break from actively organizing socials and fund-raisers but we hope that as the US economy finds its legs again, so will this wonderful community of IT professionals.

The 2002 summer picnic was simply a social gathering. We were there to have fun, play games, and catch up with old friends. Everyone brought their spouses, kids, moms, dads… and food.

Summer Picnic '02

Slideshow

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Banda Rito, Banda Roon was an evening of fun and lively music, featuring 3 live bands, special programmer/singer friends Ben Alvarado and Dennis Sy, and other guests.

Musicians Paul Zurita, Leonardo Javier and Anthony Ruda of JCL Override rocked the ouse with “Christian rock”. Cool jazz was provided by Blue Water, featuring Maria Santos as lead singer with musicians Eric Patino, Ronnie Sabangan and Richard Saguirre. Upbeat and energetic pop/alternative music was showcased by Socket 7, featuring musicians Juan Miranda, Richard Saguirre, Ronnie Lao, Antonio Reyes with singers Lou Navarro and Baloi Valenzuela.

The event was held for the benefit of FITG’s “Handog Aral”, a project which aimed to sponsor at least one financially needy college student pursuing a Computer Science degree at the University of the Philippines.

The 2oo2 officers were elected during a general assembly held last October.  Elected were: Billy Favis, President; Maria Santos, Vice President; Minch Capulong, Secretary; and Deo Dela Cruz, Treasurer.

They were inducted into office by Philippine Consul Joseph Gerard B. Angeles.

Proceeds from the dinner/dance event went to Bantay Bata 163.