JENNA PRICE/The Register-MailSix year old Taaqua Thompson plays the tortilla toss game at the LULAC Family Fiesta Saturday at the LULAC hall on Second Street in Galesburg.
LULAC on the rebound
Hispanic group grows from 10 to 50 members in 9 months
Sunday, September 18, 2005
GALESBURG - Tracey Pacheco was signing up her organization for a booth at Railroad Days and someone asked her if LULAC was a church."And I thought 'how sad,' " she said. "We have been here since 1958 and no one knows who we are."
Pacheco has become the Galesburg council of the League of United Latin American Citizens's president and hopes to change that perception in Galesburg.
Council 324, the Galesburg branch of the largest and oldest Hispanic citizens' organization in the United States, has grown from 10 members at the beginning of the year, the minimum number needed to keep it open, to 50 in nine months, and the new officers hope to refocus the scope of the organization to include more activities for children and families.
The first step to creating a strong organization, Pacheco said, is to build community awareness. This was one of the purposes of the annual LULAC Family Fiesta on Saturday, the other is to celebrate Mexican Independence Day.
The Family Fiesta, a day-long event, was held at the LULAC Hall, a 30-year-old building at 1045 W. Second St. The hall, the oldest LULAC Hall in Illinois, has had a new coat of paint on the outside and inside, and was decorated in greens, reds and whites to celebrate Mexican Independence Day.
Regina Hodge, a longtime member of LULAC who left the group about two years ago, is happy to see new life in the organization.
Pacheco asked her to help with fund-raising so she rejoined.
She said she had fun Friday night decorating for the fiesta and is happy the see the building be used more.
In years past, the family fiesta was a way to earn money for the scholarship fund, but because of LULAC's recent financial problems the money raised at the event will be used to pay taxes on the building and operating expenses.
LULAC lost the building due to unpaid tax bills earlier this year and was only recently able to buy it back, Pacheco said. The group hopes to regain non-for-profit status so it can focus fund-raising efforts on scholarships again.
