August 7, 2007. The past three years was a blur it seems. The Alumni Association sped into a whirlwind romance and wed in Las Vegas on April 3, 2004. In one fell sweep, we drafted and signed our By-Laws, elected officers, sponsored a website and planned projects for the benefit of the WVSU College of Medicine and its alumni. Proudly we named ourselves the "IC": patting ourselves on the back as erstwhile Pinoy MD expats, "International Chapter" representatives of the somewhat obscure little university called "WEST". Oh yes, it was significant enough that we even registered the name and got a Las Vegas PO Box address, and started the process of getting an EIN in the hopes of later getting a tax-exempt status. Then we opened a bank account with what little we have, even though funds only trickled in from our dollar earning MD's and MD-RN's, but we were somewhat content even though we never hit $3,000 in our check book balance. The future seemed bright!

     We burnt fast at first, spearheading a few projects. We sponsored our first Alumni Scholar, Mercy Wong, who without our support would not have been able to go to med school. We sent money to both our alma mater's Education and Research Foundation and to the local Alumni Association. Then we started sending medical journals and boxfuls after balikbayan boxfuls of medical supplies, medicines, equipment, and even chocolate bars from Rolour our webmaster par excellence! Indeed, we have received several letters of gratitude from medical and surgical residents and the administration for these. Who knows how many minds we have helped inculcate and how many lives we have helped save!

     But then the burning passion slowed. I remember our adviser, Doc Art warn about the Ningas Cogon mentality and jokes about the number 13, since we started off with 13 members. We struggled through communication, since our members were scattered across 50 states. We tried forums, chat lines, teleconferences, emails and even telemarketer style phone calls; however it became increasingly difficult to get the officers to function in the midst of everyone's busy lives, families and jobs. Despite this, we kept up, the website sped on, and we kept sending money and boxes to our alma mater for which we have decided to form this organization in the first place. The cogwheels slackened in the mud so to speak, as Las Vegas became a distant memory for some. Perhaps questions were asked like "what's in this for me?" as the wedding vows became forgotten: that there is nothing in it for us, but it's all for our alma mater.

     As we headed through our third year it was time to reevaluate things. Perhaps it was a "3-year itch", or it was that our By-Laws mandated a Grand Assembly and election every 3 years. Whichever it was, we decided to gather and decide the fate of the organization and whether good or bad, we'll enjoy a reunion anyway! Thus, it was an opportune time to meet on a luckier number: 7-7-07 in Chicago for the 17 who decided to come (among the over 40 members we have).

     The WVSUCMAA-IC Reunion and Grand Assembly was held in Chicago on July 7, 2007. Seventeen members including five officers met and discussed the organization's future. After deliberations, it was decided that the IC will be dissolved as an official organization. This includes the revocation of the By-Laws and the officers, and closure of all formal aspects of the group. There will no longer be required membership dues, no elected officers, the bank account will be closed, and formal registration with the IRS will be retracted. A resolution of dissolution was signed to this effect.

     It is not the end of us however. It is not a messy divorce but rather an amicable legal separation of sorts. The dissolution will free us of the burdens of a registered and taxable organization. It will make working for the alumni association and our alma mater more lenient. It will be less frustrating tracking officers and members to participate when they are supposed to. Service will be under no duress and our help will be more altruistic without red tape.

     Yes, that means we can still do what we are doing in a non-formal way. We will just function as a web-based alumni organization through www.medskul.com. There will be no formal officers but by default, the webmaster Dr. Rolour Garcia will be the coordinator. By default as now ex-president I can still help coordinate projects until more active and willing members would like to take the lead, or if the masses decide, form a sort of a formal Board or new entity.

     The bank account, which has about $1,000 left, will be closed and the money sent to our scholar for her Junior Internship tuition fee. The rest is reserved for taxes and fees. In the absence of a bank account, any willing donors can send money directly to the College of Medicine or to our Paypal account. In the interest of transparency, this account can be accessed by any of our website members (just contact the webmaster). If we have enough money, we can continue to sponsor a medical school scholar every year but there will be no "security of tenure" so to speak because we cannot guarantee funding. If there are enough funds, we can keep on paying for balikbayan boxes for donated medical journals and supplies. Otherwise, as some of us have been doing, we can pay for it ourselves if we want to go an extra mile (or $90) for our alma mater. We can continue other things we do through our website, including a "suggested membership donation" of sorts. On the side, the website is not free. Dr. Garcia has spent countless hours maintaining it and is spending for it out of his own pocket. He more than deserves the plaque of appreciation we gave him during the reunion. Perhaps later on, we can use some of our meager funds to help pay for the website's maintenance, since we will now solely function as a web-based org.

     So if you are willing to lend a hand or break a leg, then show it! Log on and speak and share your ideas. Send in your journals, books or supplies. Give us your spare change. They will still be gathered and sent over to assist a fledgling medical student with big dreams, or to help a poor soul in the charity ward of the WVSU Hospital. We've all been there and we can still make a difference.

     As your WVSUCMAA-IC ex-president, thank you for all those who attended the reunion and Grand Assembly; you have made a great contribution and I hope that you enjoyed. It has been a challenge and an honor running the International Chapter. Thank you for the privilege of being able to continue helping our alma mater through our organization and allowing me to be a part of it.

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