THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9504280206
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Wearing orange vests to protect them from traffic and baseball caps to shield them from the sun and 80-degree heat, 28 men carried yellow trash bags and walked along Princess Anne Road, picking up aluminum cans, paper and other litter.
Ray Pagtalunan of Chesapeake paused and looked at the activity around him.
``I'm having a good time,'' he said, as he removed his cap and wiped his forehead. ``Walking, cleaning up, picking up trash and talking to my friends. It's a great way to spend the morning.''
His friend, Ted Delacruz smiled and said, ``We're picking up everything but money.''
Delacruz and Pagtalunan are members of the Hiram Club, a masonic lodge made up of more than 100 Filipino-Americans members. It was founded in 1974 to promote unity and brotherhood among local Filipino-Americans. All club members are active or retired military personnel and the group stresses community service as one of its basic tenets.
They gathered at the intersection of Providence and Princess Anne roads at 10 a.m. last week for their initial Adopt-A-Highway cleanup effort. They spent the next two hours walking west along Princess Anne Road, trash bags and litter collection apparatus in hand, cleaning up both sides and the median strip of the 2.2-mile stretch of road. At noon, when they arrived at Kempsville Road, they had collected more than 100 pounds of detritus.
``The Hiram Club, like all freemasons, promotes charitable and philanthropic drives,'' said Ben Permel, president. ``We give to the food banks and have blood drives.''
Toward that end, the club decided to become involved in the Adopt-A-Highway program.
``Some of us attended a safety meeting given by the Parks and Recreation Department landscaping service on April 4,'' said club vice-president Roger Tadalan. ``We realized it might save the city a few dollars of taxpayer money, and also let people know more about the freemasons.''
Delacruz, Permel and many of the older members expressed concern for the future of the masonic lodge in general; their own club, in particular.
``Lots of young people either don't know about the masons or think it's just for older guys,'' said Tadalan. The four founding members - Dr. Roman Navarro, Romy Sarmiento, James Samonte and Tadalan - met in Samonte's Aragona Village home when the club was first formed 21 years ago. The Hiram Club was chartered as a masonic lodge in 1978.
``We'd like to see the masons continue, to pursue the goals and work we believe in,'' Tadalan added.
That will happen if guys like Henry Kabigting have their way. The young Navy enlisted man speared a discarded beer container and dropped it into his bag.
``I've just been back from Cuba about a year,'' he said. ``I was stationed at Gitmo (Guantanamo Naval Base) and joined the lodge down there. I've applied to the Hiram Club.''
The Hiram Club meets the third Sunday of each month at 2 p.m. at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4809, off Military Highway near Janaf Shopping Center. Call 479-3121. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY EDWARDS
Ben Permel, left, president of the Hiram Club, and Ted Delacruz
clean up a portion of Princess Anne Road near Catholic High School.
``We're picking up everything but money,'' Delacruz quipped.
Jim Bernal carries a bag full of litter he collected near the
intersection of Princess Anne and Timberlake. Twenty-eight men from
the Hiram Club, a masonic lodge composed of more than 100
Filipino-Americans members who are all active or retired military
personnel, participated in the community service event.
Photo by GARY EDWARDS
by CNB