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| A Message from APANA's President, Pat Basu |
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Greetings and Happy New Year:
I wish to take this opportunity to thank you for your votes during the recent Asian Pacific
American Network in Agriculture (APANA) election. I am overwhelmed by the unanimous support
for my candidacy. In turn, I request your continued support for the next two years. With your
support, I believe APANA will be able to serve as the unified voice for all Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in USDA.
Over 13 million Americans and U.S. residents proudly trace their ancestry to the many nations
that make up Asia and the Pacific islands. For generations, Americans of Asian and Pacific
heritage have strengthened our Nation through their achievements in all walks of life, including
business, politics, government, education, community service, the arts and science. In USDA, we
are fortunate to have over 2000 AAPI employees, mostly in professional and technology series.
While we may have different roots and may speak different languages, the AAPI group is known for
their high values in family welfare, education, dedication and sincere service to the nation and
abroad. We are like a bundle of sticks tied together; each of the individual fragile stick gets
strength through the power of the entire bundle of sticks; and this bundle of sticks become
stronger with greater unity and increased volume of the sticks. This Eastern wisdom demonstrates
why membership in APANA is so important.
I am very fortunate to have a fantastic team of elected officials:
- Dr. Marjorie Medina, Vice-President, is the first person to join the APANA elected body
from one of the APANA Chapters located outside of the Washington, DC Headquarters area. Majorie
has been an active leader for the USDA AAPI community through our Philadelphia Chapter. She was
recently recognized for all her charitable work for the Katrina flood relief victims from the
USDA-NFC in New Orleans.
- The Secretary is Dr. Bharat Patel. Bharat is well known to many of the USDA employees through
his former role as an elected official of APANA, the SEPM (2001-2004) for AAPI activities and his
various roles in coordinating the AAPI Heritage Month Celebration in USDA.
- The Treasurer is Ms. Lily Thienard. Lily is a young Information Technology professional. Lily
is trained in multiple Web site technologies and will also serve as the APANA Webmaster.
As the President of APANA, with my very competent team, our first and foremost task is
to enhance unity and strength of APANA with increased membership and outreach to all AAPI employees
in USDA. With your active support, cooperation and dialogue, we plan to develop and implement an
Action Plan for the next two years.
With the blessing of key members of the APANA Executive Committee, one initiative we have already
started is our goal to start new APANA Chapters or re-invigorate existing Chapters throughout the
United States. Because of her experience with the Philadeplhia Chapter, I have asked Marjorie to
take the lead in this effort. Marjorie will work with any and all the other Chapters, helping them
create their Chapter Constitution and By-Laws and membership drives.
The parent APANA body in the DC headquarters will not seek any monitory gain from these
Chapters. However, they will be governed by our basic Mission, Vision, etc (see below). We will
try to assist these Chapters through whatever means available, so that every USDA-AAPI employee
can maximize their career potential and increase job satisfaction. Through the local Chapters
and from the Headquarters, we want to target future potential USDA employees from the AAPI
population at top American universities.
I have requested Bharat to set up monthly meetings. We will try to hook up all interested employees
through a conference line. I will be on vacation in India from January 3rd to 23rd, 2006. Marjorie
will be vacationing in the Philippines from January 10th to 28th, 2006. Therefore, our first
official meeting will be in February, 2006.
We will try to set up a meeting with the APANA Executive Committee in early 2006, to seek guidance
as to our future plans and to create a strategic plan, operating principles, goals and
objectives. The existing Vision, Mission and Objectives of APANA are attached below. Your
comments and guidance are needed and are always welcome.
Thank you again. I look forward to working with all of you for the next two years.
Pat Basu
President,
Asian Pacific American Network in Agriculture
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