To family and friends of Dave Alar,
Thank you for dropping by in this fundraising site.
Join us in giving our friend Dave Alar a lasting remembrance and a legacy to his life of generosity.
We will daringly run 26.2 miles on July 25, 2010 at the San Francisco Marathon to raise funds to build the David Alar Library. This will be built at Lopez Elementary School where Dave finished his elementary education in Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines. Our target is to raise $10,000, the total cost to construct and furnish a world-class elementary school library under the “Build a Library, Leave a Legacy” program of Books for the Barrios, Inc.
While working for over 14 years in California, Dave never turned his back on his family in Los Banos. He regularly sent monetary support to his ailing mother, financed his siblings’ business ventures, and helped send eight of his nephews and nieces to college.
Here in the US, Dave also assisted in many fundraising efforts for Books for the Barrios. He and wife, Rocky and their kids - Pebbles, Tim, and Diane - have given many volunteer hours at this non-profit organization.
As a legacy to Dave’s generosity, please help us build his library. When constructed, this library will contain high quality books, valuable educational materials including toys and board games, chairs and tables for reading spaces, and computers – all housed in a bright and colorful building structure. (See a few of the libraries from Books for the Barrios from the photo section of this site.) But this library will not be just about Dave. It will also be about giving the children of Lopez Elementary School a chance to get a better education, just as Dave did to his nephews and nieces.
Join us in this quest by donating through this site. Proceeds will go directly to Books for the Barrios’ funds to build Dave’s library.
Update: July 26, 2010, a day after the marathon.
We all safely finished the 26.2 mile run yesterday. Our ultra marathoner Frank Soriano led the way with a respectable time of 3 hours, 50 minutes. Thighs, knees and legs are sore and hurting and we expect to have these for the next three to five days. But despite this pain we all had fun. The sights of the beautiful city of San Francisco on a calm and traffic less morning are simply breathtaking – the Embarcadero, Fisherman’s Wharf, Marina, Chrissy Fields, Golden Gate Bridge, Presidio, Baker Beach, Golden Gate Park, Haight-Ashbury (After this everything was a blur. We only came back to our senses at the finish line.) The enthusiastic support of race volunteers and peace officers was humbling. The presence of our families and friends at the finish line was purely refreshing. This experience we shall all treasure and talk about until we are in our walkers and wheelchairs playing bingo in a retirement home somewhere.
We feel deeply privileged to have done this run for our friend, Dave. We once again thank you for your support. To meet our goal this site will remain open for donation until Sept 25, 2010. Please forward to other friends.
Update: August 25, 2010
Fundraising target is reduced to $4,300 which is just enough to cover the basic needs of the library. This will include the books (about 3,000 volumes), shipping costs from LBC, project orientation for teachers, and the hardwood library sign (with Dave's name hand-carved).
Thank you.
Frank Soriano
Julius Acosta
Ramon Arellano II
Roy Cabral
Salvie Labrador
Virgilio Apaliso