Macao Imperial Tea Spruce Grove supports an SA basketball team

By S.C. Baysa
Pinoy Hour

It’s the fourth quarter of the year and the holidays are drawing near. Dated November 16, the Filipino Canadian Association of Lethbridge, Alberta (FCALA) has opened their annual fall-winter Sportsfest. All community members are invited to engage in another healthy basketball competition. Even though they kicked off the year with their annual spring tourney, they are once more focused on wrapping up the year with a competitive edge. They aim to remind the Lethbridge community of their identity as an association. Their ongoing mission is to act as a foundation for fostering local community connections by hosting events all year round. This time, they are highlighting a sport that is popular and accessible to a wide audience. Additionally, they are promoting physical activity during the hectic holiday season by encouraging everyone to take part in these sporting events. 

The tournament began with five teams hailing from southern Alberta, hosted at Lethbridge Polytechnic. Among the local sponsors, the Macao Imperial Tea branch located in Spruce Grove offered support for the local event and emerged as a primary team sponsor. This represents their first major sponsorship, showcasing their enthusiastic intent to compete with local teams and to demonstrate that markets outside of southern Alberta are ready to collaborate with other organizations to foster sportsmanship.

The president of the FCALA and one of the major sponsors for one of the teams under the Macao Imperial Tea Spruce Grove branch, Vic L. Visitacion left a message of appreciation for the opportunity of sponsoring and helping: “We support the community. We are a proud supporter of it and hopefully this way of supporting the community, we are giving back to you. [As] the FCALA [president], we collaborate with different cities that belong to the Alberta Fil-Can Leaders Association that [has] 62 other communities all over Alberta and we are happy to collaborate with different cities like Spruce Grove, at the same time supporting other cities as well so as a bigger community we are supporting each other not just here in Lethbridge.” 

 Additionally, he also sent his gratitude for the teams that are participating in the event. “I’d like to congratulate the FCALA for the successful event. I hope the athletes will play safe and practice sportsmanship and promote camaraderie so we hope that you have a successful tournament for the next few months.”

The tournament signifies the end of the year’s activities for FCALA. However, it is not the final event of the year. President Vic also extends an invitation to all for the FCALA Year-End Gala on Dec. 27, which will be held at the Lethbridge Multicultural Center. It is an event where you can gather with friends and family to embrace the holiday spirit.