Maripaz N. Perez, CGFM, CGAP, CICA, CIA, CFE,
Chapter President

Buenas yan Hafa Adai!​

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We welcome you to the AGA Guam Chapter. On behalf of your officers and executive committee directors, we wish you a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

We would like to thank Mr. David Dell’Isola, Director of Guam Department of Labor (GDOL), for being our guest speaker during our October General Membership Meeting. We were treated as well as Director Dell’Isola was joined by two of his management team. Mr. Greg Massey was present and he is currently serving as the Acting Administrator for the Wage and Hour Division and leads the PUA Adjudication Team. Also in the presentation was Ms. Helen Mafnas, the Administrative Services Officer with over 25 years of experience and handles all the fiscal and reporting for federal and local programs as well as the lead for the Department's Audits. Mr. Dell’Isola and his team’s presentation was on "GDOL and Pandemic Related Issues on Guam." The topics they presented were very timely, valuable, and interesting, especially the controls they implemented to mitigate and reduce fraud on Guam’s PUA. We are very grateful for the time and effort the GDOL team took in the preparation of their insightful presentation and for sharing their experience and expertise with our members.

We entered November with so many activities and initiatives executed by your various committees. This month, the Accountability Committee has completed and will be awarding the “Best Citizen-Centric Report Award” for FY2021. This program aims to recognize an outstanding CCR that meets the design elements cited in Public Law 30-127 and the AGA national guidelines. Government CCRs meeting the three key requirements before their CCR due date: 1) posted on their website; 2) posted on the OPA’s website; and 3) sent to the Guam Legislature will be automatically entered in the contest and the winning CCR will be presented.

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The Community Service Committee has implemented several outreach and service initiatives as provided below.

1. Donation drive for Guam Memorial Hospital Authority's COVID-19 Equipment Loan Program launched and will run through November 19, 2021. Any amount is welcome, and donations of at least $50 will count as community service credit for AGA members. Contributions from non-members are also welcome. Gently used wheelchair and walker donations can also be donated directly to GMHA. You may make checks payable to AGA Guam Chapter and mail them to PO Box 1124 Hagatna, Guam 96932 or send payments via PayPal to agaguamchapter@gmail.com.

2. In honor and commemoration of our veterans, our Community Service Committee supported the “Wreaths Across America Campaign” through a sponsorship of ten wreaths to be displayed at the Guam Veterans Cemetery next month.

3. A Canned Food Drive will be launched to support the Catholic Social Services (CSS) Food Pantry. Non-perishable food items will be collected from November 22 through December 17, 2021 and presented to CSS in time for Christmas. The Community Service Committee is also seeking a volunteer from each agency to coordinate the donation collections. If you’re interested to coordinate this canned food drive within your agency, please contact our Community Services directors. Your volunteer time for this initiative can count towards your community service credit. Our chapter’s donation will be presented to the CSS Food Pantry on Christmas week.

4. Planning to participate in a local Christmas gift giving program to support the local children during the holiday season. These programs include the Angel Tree and/or the Sugar Plum Tree Program. The Angel Tree program sends toys to children on Guam if their parent is serving time on Guam or in federal institutions. The Sugar Plum Tree’s goal is to bring holiday cheer by collecting gifts for those who might not otherwise receive one during the holidays.

We ask for your continued support on our service initiatives to help those who are most in need. We thank you sincerely for your generosity and kindness.

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Also, please be advised that our December 2021 General Membership will be held on December 22. We will be having our virtual 2021 Christmas Party and we look forward seeing you. For more information, please read our award-winning newsletter.

During this holiday season we have so many to be thankful for. We thank you for being great members of our chapter and we look forward working with you through the next year. It’s incredible that despite the fact that the whole world is dealing with a pandemic, collectively as a team we’ve achieved so much. We are truly blessed to have a gem of a member like you!

We thank you for your continuous support and participation in our association. We also encourage you to volunteer by contributing to the newsletter, participating in our committees, and assisting us in activities promoting our chapter goals and advancing government accountability. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to get involved in a committee.

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You may send us an email at agaguamchapter@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you. Take care and be safe.

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