[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 37 (Monday, March 5, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E457]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E457]]
CONGRATULATING MARIQUITA C. LEON GUERRERO ON BEING NAMED THE 2007 SMALL 
     BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION HOME-BASED BUSINESS CHAMPION FOR GUAM

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                       HON. MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 5, 2007

  Ms. BORDALLO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and 
congratulate Mrs. Maraquita C. Leon Guerrero on being named the U.S. 
Small Business Administration 2007 Home-Based Business Champion of the 
Year for Guam. Mrs. Leon Guerrero, affectionately known as ``Tita,'' is 
the proprietress of Tita's Bakery, a home-based bakery that has 
produced Chamorro pastries since 1965.
  This honor is richly deserved. Tita has made a much-loved local 
confection very nearly an icon of my home district. Some people call 
them Chamorro jaw breakers, others call them a cookie, and still others 
a candy. Guguria is all of those. They are small, hard sugar-coated 
cookies made with coconut milk.
  For more than 40 years now, Tita's Guguria has fulfilled the sweet-
tooth cravings of my constituents who didn't want to undertake the 
laborious process of making guguria themselves. Newcomers to Guam 
quickly discover Tita's Guguria and have sent them to their families 
and friends far and wide. Tita's Guguria also has become a staple in 
``care packages'' from families at home to relatives here in the 
mainland. In 1998, during his visit to Guam, President Bill Clinton was 
served some of Tita's Guguria. Upon his return to Washington, DC, the 
White House placed an order for more.
  Mrs. Leon Guerrero's business model--the secret to her success--is a 
classic one: She found a need and filled it admirably. But Tita did not 
intend to build a successful small business. Like most home-based 
entrepreneurs, she simply wanted to augment her family income. Her 
little bake shop, which started as a 12-by-14-foot room, now covers 
more than 5,000 square feet. One of Tita's daughters now follows in her 
mother's footsteps, operating her own home-based bakery business called 
``Tita, Jr.,'' which specializes in baked goods from handed-down family 
recipes.
  Mrs. Leon Guerrero is a role model not only for her daughters but for 
all other would-be home-based entrepreneurs. She has proven that a good 
idea is a valuable thing, and hard work really does pay off. ``You have 
to be happy, and you must enjoy your work in order to succeed,'' she is 
quoted as saying in a magazine feature.
  Although she still gets up at 2 in the morning to start work, Tita 
devotes the weekends to her family. Her husband Ben is her most loyal 
and loving ``employee''; he helps with deliveries. We send Tita, Ben, 
Genny, Renee, their grandchildren, and the employees of Tita's bakery 
our best wishes as they join other Home-based Business Champions from 
around the country for consideration to be the Small Business 
Administration's National Champion for that category.

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