The prelude to the formation of the club occurred in 1951 when the Santiagoand the Romero families gathered informally to provide social opportunities
for Puerto Ricans in the Bay area. The first formal meeting was held in 1953
at the Drued Hall in San Jose. The President was Pedro Romero. In 1956
the number of members increased to 18 under the leadership of Jorge
Piñeiro. The organization of various social activities was the focus of the
group. In 1958 the group was presided by Juan Cortés and in 1960 by
Edwin Betancourt. In 1962, under the leadership of Juan (Tin) Miranda
the club created a women softball team who won two championships.
Leadership opportunities were designed to involve the youth.
In 1964 the group was presided by our first female president, Conchita Barlotomé.In 1966 the club was presided by Adolfo McGovert Jr. In 1967
the club was registered as a social club. Bylaws and procedures to
conduct meeting were develop. For the following years there were several
presidents such as Blanca Piñeiro, Darnley de Castro, Juan Miranda, Jorge
Piñeiro, Andrés Ortiz, Nora Flores, and others. The club raised $10,000
with the idea of getting a hall. The Club used to have youth and adult
baseball teams, beauty pageants, trips, and a lot of other activities and fundraisers.The governor of Puerto Rico once visited our Club members
back in the sixties.
In the early nineties, there were approximately 30 members at each
meeting, there was always a lot of food, drinks, and cards and domino
playing. Also cultural videos were watched as a group. The Club used to
have a youth group named “Los Boricuas”, under the leadership of a
young and energetic Puerto Rican school teacher named Franklin Collazo.
This group used to learn about Puerto Rican culture while the general
meetings were held. They had fundraisers and other activities. Los Boricuas
even got to go to Puerto Rico, paid by the money they raised, with the help
of our Club, and their parents.
Johnny Saldivia became the acting president in 1993, when the elected
president Jennie Santana, couldn’t return to the meetings due to work issues. Johnny served as president through 2001. His main focus was to lift the club
which at one time only had two members present at a meeting, including him.
A lot of people had moved out of California, passed away, retired, etc. Under Johnny’s leadership, the bylaws were revised again and translated into
English in order to include more people. It was no longer required to be
Puerto Rican or married to one to join our Club. Business cards were made, distributed, and placed on strategic places; announcements were placed
in newspapers, an email account was created and a voicemail number was
obtained. Eventually a strong group of Boricuas came into the picture and the
club took off.
Perseverance had its fruits and Celina Arauz became the president in 2002,
and reelected in 2003. In 2002 President Celina Arauz developed a 5-year plan,
with thehelp of Mayra Cruz, which focused on the evaluation of the social, civic,
and cultural components of the organization. In 2003, Celina was able to get
our club a free website to further expand our opportunities. In 2004 and 2005
Mayra Cruz led the organization. The first steps to create a 501(c)(3) arm
(CEMI) were taken and the strategic planning continued. In 2006 and 2007
Franklin Collazo was elected President. Reaching the 501 (c)(3) was the
main goal.
In 2008, Gretza Roman was elected President after serving as Vice
President since 2007. Her main goal was to finally obtain the 501(c)(3)
status which recognizes the organization as a non-profit organization.
PRCC filed the application for non-profit in May 2005. In March of 2010,
PRCC was finally awarded the 501(c)(3) status. This is a big
accomplishment as we can now receive donations and the donors are
able to claim it as a tax deduction. It took a lot of hard work but we
made it.
For 2011, with a full Board, we are looking forward to growing our
membership and being able to organize more events. Our main focus
is still being able to raise funds for scholarships. We will continue to
work with WRPRC at Dia de San Juan Festival which is our biggest
fund raising event. New fund raising events are being scheduled such
a domino tournaments, golf tournaments, picnics and others. In addition
we are working with other organizations in our community to promote our
culture and create awareness of issues that affect us.
Join us in our efforts to make this a very successful year.
Join or renew your membership today.
