Kin Ga Shin Nen! Happy New Year! Southern California Asian Deaf Association proudly hosted their annual Lunar New Year Banquet at the Amada Plaza in Buena Park on March 3rd, 2007. There were 110 people who came to experience and enjoy Japanese culture and cuisine. The interior of the Amada Plaza was beautifully decorated with tall flourishing bamboo and the Atrium's centerpiece was its terraced pond and waterfalls. The pond was inspired from the simplicity of flowing waters and Japanese gardens. Another impressive feature was the Atrium's retractable roof, which was opened during the banquet and filled the room with radiant light and a rustling wind. Courtesy of Shari Kido, two tables displayed authentic Japanese figurines, ceramics and photographs. Satoshi also brought two framed pieces of art, which consisted of 1001 origami cranes arranged to form a family emblem. On each table, hand-folded origami cranes and Hawk Relay’s business cards were placed at each meal setting and a Hawk Relay banner was proudly displayed.
SCADA truly appreciates the following sponsors for their kind support to our organization: Hawk Relay, for their generous financial support, the Greater Los Angeles Council on Deafness (GLAD), who allowed us to use their meeting room for our origami event, Dawn Sign Press for donating ASL textbooks and videotapes as door prizes, and at last but not least, Julia Kim for donating her beautiful framed origami artwork, which was used for our silent auction.
Shari Kido and Yoko Tsuchiya-Foster entertained guests with their humor and knowledge of Japanese culture and to add to our delight, deaf high school student, Ka-Yun Chan performed the Lion Dance with a hearing youth dance troupe. It was a lively performance! Ka-Yun kindly showed her lion costume to three hearing children of deaf parents: Julianna Gough, Leif Feris and Katie Fanara. This performance was sponsored by the San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association.
Every year, SCADA selects an outstanding member to recognize for his/her hard work and contribution to SCADA and the Deaf Community. Board member, Sharon Gough was busily planning a surprise award for President Yoon Lee, while the rest of the SCADA officers were secretly working to honor her instead. Sharon has been a valued member of SCADA for over 10 years. She first volunteered with LADHA and helped to launch the first Asian Deaf Conference, which was held in Los Angeles in 1997 and she has continued to serve the Asian Deaf Community tirelessly. When Sharon realized she was actually being recognized, she shed tears of joy. SCADA proudly congratulates Sharon Gough for receiving the SCADA Leadership and Service award.
In addition, Karen Tong-Bregman, who is the president of the National Asian Deaf Congress (NADC), gave a presentation about the NADC and introduced their board members: Alvin Leung (Jr. Board Member of NADC), Sin-Yi Ko (Associate Vice President of NADC), and Robert Hoy (Public Relations). William Wong, co-chairperson of the NADC conference, announced that Bay Area Asian Deaf Association will host the NADC conference in San Francisco this upcoming summer.
In celebration of traditional Japanese culture, several SCADA members wore beautiful, colorful kimonos. Satoshi Nakama San was our guest speaker and he shared about his life experiences as a deaf individual first in Japan and then in the US. As our afternoon came to an end, raffle ticket winners were announced and lucky guests received Japanese themed prizes. Three people won the silent auction. To contribute their hard-working hands and "voices" to our organization, SCADA board members truly appreciate the following volunteers: James Foster (interpreter), Frank Alatorre (interpreter), Alvin Leung, Sin-Yi Ko, Poh-Gaik Teh, Yoko Kobayashi and Sherina Lee (photographer and assistant to Yoon Lee for filming our event). On behalf of SCADA, we heartily thank all the guests, sponsors, committee members, and volunteers for making our banquet a great success!
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