Young Fil-Ams trying to build a community center in Dallas-Fort Worth area

A group of young Filipino Americans in Plano, Texas are trying to build a community center for Filipinos in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

Filipinos in the DFW area numbered around 40,000 in 2013, based on the 2010 census, but some estimates are now as high as 80,000.

Lone Star Palengke team (from L): Abby and Conrad Casallo, Mark Sampelo, Alavia Khawaja and Stephanie Bautista. WEBSITE

The future community center is envisioned as a place for Filipinos of all religions, social backgrounds, and sexual orientations to use for their activities.

The team, which organized the Lone Star Palengke last summer, will officially become a nonprofit and is raising $2.2 million to buy land and $22 million to sustain the center, according to a report in Spectrum News1.

More than 7,000 Filipinos and friends attended the group’s Lone Star Palengke on Oct. 23 at the Red Tail Pavilion in Plano, Texas to celebrate Filipino heritage and raise funds for a dreamed of Filipino community center. It boosted the team’s hope for a successful campaign for a community center

A view of downtown Plano, Texas. HANGOUT

Lone Star Palengke was cofounded by husband-and-wife Conrado and Abby Casallo, originally from Seattle, and Mark Sampelo, whose parents worked in Saudi Arabia before coming to the U.S.

The team’s social media manager is Ohio-raised Alavia Khawaja,  half-Pakistani and half-Filipino Muslim. Event coordinator Stephanie Bautista grew up in California.