To the editor,

It is great living in Wareham for you will intermingle with people who really know what it is like to work hard and accomplish many of their life’s dreams. There are people here who understand how to work with each other to accomplish successful projects that are aimed to promote the common good for the general community. Deadlines are not hindrances, but jumpstart ladders to creativity.

We, the Board of Oak Grove Cape Verdean Cultural Center, Inc. are always excited to plan fundraisers for our Organization to meet our Mission and Goals. We slowly, like the story of the hare and the tortoise, trudge forward with a single purpose. That purpose is to build the Cultural Center on the grounds of the current Oak Grove School site. The Cultural Center will educate the Community and friends of Cabo Verde with a myriad of displays, artifacts, and information that one will leave with admiration and knowledge once they have visited there. We will continue to keep our Kriolu Language, our historical data, and other memorabilia alive.

The Board has proudly unveiled a new Logo for our Organization this year exemplifying their endeavors. The new Logo that you will see prominently at Fundraisers and advertising Events depicts the ardent struggles that Cape Verdean families have endured. The blue color shown in the center of the Logo signifies the ocean that our ancestors traversed in their desire to experience a new country with hope, love and freedom for life. Scattered throughout that ocean are the categories of many professions that Cape Verdeans have shown their expertise, their love of design, their ingenuity, their literary greatness, their spark of determination, and their endless fire in reaching their goals not only for themselves but helping others rise with them. Cape Verdeans are unique because they are so talented in numerous facets of everyday living. Across the middle of our Logo is our Organization’s motto boldly professing our efforts: “Keeping Our Culture Alive”. The Logo remembers our homeland in another way besides the ocean as the presence of 10 gold stars representing the Islands of Cabe Verde. There you have it! Now when you see our Logo, your mind will visualize what I explained and your heart will feel the pride of our people.

This year our Organization has completed some wonderful Fundraisers: The Pre-Festival Annual Dance, Community Yard Sale, and Strike a Pose Fashion Show. We also sold our Organization’s famous souvenir merchandise at the Onset Cape Verdean Festival and again at the Falmouth Cape Verdean Festival. With your support and donations, our Organization was able to increase our Building Fund monies. As the years go by, nothing stands still and the expenditures of building a Cultural Center continues to rise. As our website flag shows, we are making progress.

This letter was not only to thank the Community for attending and supporting our Fundraisers but also to give a “hug of appreciation” to the wonderful individuals who worked at each event and thereby brought it to its ultimate success. Without you, no Fundraiser event could have been accomplished.

As President of the Oak Grove Cape Verdean Cultural Center, Inc. the Chairpersons reported to me and the Board all the hard work, sacrifices, and struggles that had to be overcome with some of these Fundraisers. In this respect, other associations undoubtedly encounter similar situations in their efforts also. But, as Cape Verdeans, we are entirely enveloped with our Mission and keep our focus marching along toward completion. We work as a team. A valuable team that involves each and every one on the Organization, in the Fundraiser circle and in the community. Together, that is the only way success is spelled.

When I say “Thank You”, it is sincerely to all of you. It is not impossible to list everyone in this letter, but it is more applicable to say a group “thank you” for this letter would be immensely long and may not be printed. So please, all of you who have contributed in our OGCVCC, INC. Fundraisers and events, businesses, volunteers, and interested people in the community do not feel slighted when I say “Thank You” because it indeed is coming from the heart and also from every member on our Board. Without all of you, our Goals would be hard pressed.

Marian J. Rose, President
Oak Grove Cape Verdean Cultural Center, Inc.