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President: |
Here we are again looking at a brand new year. In the last newsletter, we listed our year's accomplishments. In 2003, we will do as well, and maybe better. I would like to thank all of the members for their active support for all of our various activities. .
Coming up on February 22nd is our annual Chinese New Year Celebration. We hope all of you will be able to attend. Buy your tickets as soon as possible, because every year we are sold out. No tickets are sold at the door. Tickets may be obtained from board members, Genghis Khan Restaurant in Coddingtown, G&G Markets in Santa Rosa and Petaluma, Quality Inn in Petaluma and Holiday Inn Express in Sebastopol. . If you want to be more active in RECA planning and activities, please come to the board meetings. All RECA Board meetings are open to the membership. To belong to the RECA board, you must pay your membership dues and come to the board meetings on the first Wednesday of each month at 7:00 pm at our Center (unless otherwise announced). We hope to see you there. .   GRAND PRIZE RAFFLE $500 FOR CHINESE NEW YEAR Want to win $500 in cash plus a night for two in the posh Grand Suite at the Sheraton Petaluma Hotel as well as dining at the highly acclaimed Jellyfish Restaurant located in the hotel? That's our Grand Prize raffle with the drawing to be held at RECA's New Year celebration on February 22 at the Veterans Memorial Building, 1351 Maple Avenue in Santa Rosa. Second prize is two nights at the Atlantis Casino Resort in Reno. Third prize is a $100 gift certificate to Annie Wang's sumptuous Kyoto Restaurant in Rohnert Park. Tickets are $5 each. For a limited time, we'll have them available for 3 for $10. Proceeds benefit RECA's future multi-cultural center and the scholarship program. Call any board member listed on the front page for tickets. You'll be supporting a good cause and may win something nice for yourself. The RECA Board of Directors met for the annual Board dinner on January 22, 1002. We enjoyed the meal at Kyoto Restaurant in Rohnert Park. Before eating, the 2003 elected officers (executive board members) were initiated. From left to right: Mary Lowe, Vice President; Kevin Ablett, Corresponding Secretary, Shirley Brummell, Treasurer; Judy Cheung, Recording Secretary; Nancy Wang, President. . JACL/RECA JOINT POTLUCK MARCH 29 Mark your calendars for Saturday, March 29. That's the date set for our annual potluck/social with JACL (Japanese American Citizens League). They'll host the event starting at 6 p.m. at the Enmanji Buddhist Temple, 1200 Gravenstein Hwy. South in Sebastopol. Joining us will be the Filipino-American Association of Rohnert Park. Bring a main entrée dish to share for 8-10 persons. It's all free, including singing and dancing after dinner! SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION Applications are now available for this year's RECA Scholarship.
The $500 scholarship is open to Sonoma county high school seniors who are of Asian ancestry,
or whose families are members of RECA. Applications must be submitted by March 31,
and they are available from the guidance/counseling offices at local high schools,
or from RECA's Web site at www.recacenter.org. For more information,
please call Mirin Lew at 545-6173. . RECA Language School is finishing the best semester in our history. We had a full enrollment with a waiting list. Also, we successfully added 3 Mandarin classes on Tuesday evening. . Our new semester began on January 18th. There will be 2 to 5 openings in all classes except Continuing Mandarin on Saturday morning. First come, first serve. If you would like to join us, call right away and let us know. Saturday Beginning Mandarin, taught by Liling Davis, is a class for young beginners. Focus is on beginning words used in every day life. Writing is introduced, but not considered the main focus. Children range in age from 4 ½ to 11. Various parents stay and help during the class. If a beginning adult finds the more advanced classes too difficult, they are welcome to join this class. Our official age limit is 5 years old. However, every person is different, so we make exceptions when appropriate. Saturday Continuing Mandarin, taught by Hsiu Chuan Armstrong with Justin Eggert as student assistant, includes people from 7 years old through young adult. Designed to lead young advanced-beginners into an intermediate level, it has turned out to be popular with teens, also. This class focuses on writing and beginning functional conversation. It is so popular that at this time, it is over-enrolled with no announced vacancies.Saturday Advanced Mandarin, taught by Lily Chang with Cindy Avenell as student assistant, is the first class in many years where Mandarin is the functional language of the class. Designed and focused on improving conversation and academic abilities for teens and adults who are fluent in Mandarin, we have no upper age limit. Our oldest student is a WWII vet who graduated from the Monterey Language School in Mandarin in 1945. The youngest in this class is a 7 year old who speaks Mandarin at home and takes pride in keeping up with the adults. As with all of our classes, students are encouraged to find the class which best suits them. Children in this class are given some personalized child-oriented class work, but are generally expected to be able to fit into an adult environment in relation to interests and behavior. Saturday Cantonese, taught by Azy Heydon with Shirley Lew and Tien Quock assisting, is our only Cantonese class, with all ages and all levels together. This class is held in a double sized room with two assistants so groups may receive special attention. The focus is learning functional Cantonese. The special attraction is calligraphy. At the end of most sessions, this class has exercises in using Chinese brushes and Chinese ink to write and do art. All ages and levels of proficiency are welcome. At this time, the class is mostly older children and teens functioning at an advanced-beginner to intermediate level. Many students in this class also are in the RECA Youth Group. Tuesday Beginning Mandarin, taught by Liling Davis and Jean Walker, offers concentrated lessons in beginning conversation with an introduction to writing a few simple words. Arts and crafts and food preparation are extra activities for this class of children from 5 to 8 years old. Tuesday Continuing Mandarin, taught by Hsiu Chuan Armstrong, offers concentrated lessons in continuing conversation and beginning writing. Current enrollment is 6 to 9 years old. Tuesday Adult Mandarin, taught by Lily Chang, began as an advanced class, but enrollment changed the focus to adult beginners. Current enrollment is pre-teen to adult with proficiency from beginners to advanced-beginners. Classes are all held at our RECA Center on Sebastopol Road. Saturday classes begin at 9:00 a.m. and end at 11:30. Tuesday classes are at our center from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Before and after classes on Saturday, you can join Justin Eggert who teaches beginning Kung Fu. Also, after Saturday classes from 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon is our cultural dance program, taught by Meiji Chou, featuring lessons on fan dance, aboriginal dance, ribbon dance and other dances if there is a request. The Kung Fu and Cultural Dance classes have no additional charges. All are invited to attend. Tuesdays were designed to be concentrated language lessons during a weekday. No extra classes take place before or after, but Tuesday students are welcome to join the extra Saturday classes. Our school also wants to acknowledge the fine work of our substitute teachers, Nancy Loui and Elena Hsie; our treasurer, Gloria Chung; and our co-administrators, Judy Cheung and Nancy Wang. Price for one semester of 16 classes is $150.00 per person with a prorated price for additional people in one family. For more information, call Nancy Wang 576-0533 (English or Mandarin), Judy Cheung 528-0912 (English) or Azy Heydon 575-9541 (English or Cantonese).
Fan dancers performing at RECA's Christmas potluck social. Tax-Aide is the nation's largest FREE, volunteer-run tax counseling and preparation service available to taxpayers with low and middle incomes, with special attention to those age 60 and older. There are approximately 14 Tax-Aide sites located in various cities throughout Sonoma County during the tax season. In addition to providing electronic filing, most sites will also do paper returns. If you are interested in their services, please call Shubert Yee at 763-5292 for hours of operation and the site location nearest you. ENGLISH CLASSES AT CATHOLIC CHARITIES Catholic Charities is continuing its conversational "survival" English classes sponsored by the Santa Rosa Junior College. The free classes meet Thursdays from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. at 2325 Montgomery Drive in Santa Rosa. Instructor is Vic Martinez. Students can attend one or both classes. The Saturday class is for beginners. Non-native speakers are encouraged to attend frequently to practice their English conversation. MUSIC CLASS FOR CHILDREN By Dr. Robert Yee We are forming a parent-child beginning violin and music education class for children ages 3 to 6. We will be using Dr. Suzuki music education methods with a parent being the home teacher. We will be meeting at the Presbyterian Church of the Roses, Santa Rosa, Sunday mornings at 9 AM. The program is sponsored by the Church's Sunday School department and the Asian American Fellowship Group. The cost is free. There are a couple of positions open. We want to keep each learning group to about 6 to 10 children with their parent or caregiver. For information, call Robert Yee at 539-0371 or e-mail Drrobertyee@aol.com LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENCY FOR CERTAIN ASIANS The Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS) has issued regulations for certain Asians to file for lawful permanent residency beginning January 27 of this year. The regulations apply to humanitarian and public interest parolees from Cambodia, Laos or Vietnam. Advocates including Catholic Charities in Santa Rosa are assisting those persons who qualify. An applicant must:
Applications may be filed from Jan. 27, 2003 until January 25, 2006. However, only 5,000 special visas are available nationwide. Successful adjustment applicants will qualify for the five years of lawful permanent residency necessary for naturalization. To see if you are eligible, call Mary Lowe at Catholic Charities Immigration Services at 528-8712 ext. 18. VOCATIONAL TRAINING AVAILABLE The California Human Development Corporation offers day and evening vocational training courses to prepare for jobs in areas such as office occupations, electronics assembly, building maintenance, shipping and receiving, truck driving (class A), security, and telecommunications installation. Some grants and free training are available to those who qualify. For more information, please call 566-3960 or visit the California Human Development Corporation office at 100 Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa from Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 9 PM. RECA DECEMBER SOCIAL A MERRY EVENT Our elves showed up early to make the hall festive for our annual holiday social at the 4-H Center in Rohnert Park on December 7. Judy Cheung and Jean Gee decorated the tree with ornaments and tinsel. Winston Lee festooned the front wall with lights. David Chung and Lan Zhang set up the tables for the 100+ guests who brought a wonderful assortment of entrees and desserts to share for our potluck dinner.  Afterward the children from the beginning Mandarin class joyfully belted out Chinese songs they had practiced with teachers Liling Davis and Jean Walker for this special occasion. They were precious and definitely a crowd pleaser. Then Misha Heydon, daughter of Youth Group leaders Mark & Azy Heydon, played a popular tune on her keyboard. Joining in the holiday spirit, 5-6 other youths from the audience volunteered to come up individually to also perform. They included Edith Karuna playing “Polonais” in B major from Chopin, Joyce Lew laying “The Breakers,” Ricky Laboe doing “Let It Snow” and “Tarantella.” Even a visitor from China named David, who is a music prodigy but usually shy, participated in the fun. What a showcase of talented youths spontaneously performing! Then Ai-Chu Lee led the audience in “Jingle Bells” and “We Wish You A Merry Christmas.” Emcee Mary Lowe wrapped up the program with the assistance of 6-year-old Kelly, daughter of Tom Fitzgerald and Donna Yock, calling out the winning numbers for the holiday door prizes.
SANTA CLAUS TOO BIG FOR HIS BRITCHES? By Mary Lowe That was the case initially -- a slight snafu finding a Santa that could fit into our Santa trousers. Here's the story:
YOUTH GROUP ACTIVITIES By Azy Heydon For the last two months, our RECA Youth Group has helped clean up and participated in fun activities for RECA and our community.
SCHOOL CHRISTMAS PARTY By Judy Cheung On the last day of classes before winter break, the Saturday classes let out early and had a party. Students, staff, administrators and parents joined together in a potluck party after the cultural dance practice finished. A good time was had by all. We went home with good thoughts and full tummies.
NEW YEAR'S BLESSING By Judy Cheung We had a small New Years Blessing Ceremony at the Center on February 1, the actual day of Chinese New Year. Over 50 people attended and took part in learning and performing ceremonies and traditional activities to bring good luck to our Center and all of us for the coming new year. The blessing was lead by Phi Phi and Calvin Dang. With ceremonies over, we shared a bountiful potluck lunch.
IN MEMORY OF MY TIEU LAI-DANG RECA extends our condolences to the Dang family for their loss of My Tieu Lai-Dang, who died in a car accident on Jan. 4, 2003. She was an active member of RECA, performing in the Rose Parade and assisting with events such as the fashion show. Her husband John Dang described her as "selfless," and she often gave her time to help others in spite of being busy raising their four children, ages 3 to 11. She and John opened the Mandarin Restaurant in Bennett Valley in 1998, and acquired Crystal Lil's, a nearby pub the next year. They maintained both restaurants for several years until the work became too much. She was carpooling home from her job as a card dealer and gaming operator at Sho-Ka-Wah Casino in Hopland when her co-worker apparently fell asleep at the wheel and the car veered off the road.
ANNUAL TEACHERS' DINNER By Judy Cheung Each year, RECA gives the teachers of the RECA Language Classes a dinner. Not often can everyone get together at the same time to talk about classes and just have fun together. On December 30, 2002, we all got together at Genghis Khan Restaurant in Coddingtown and ate Mongolian BBQ. Pictured from left to right in the back: Jean Walker, co-teacher in Tuesday evening Beginning Mandarin teacher; Elaina Hsia, Mandarin substitute; Azy Heydon, Cantonese teacher and youth group leader; Shirley Lee, Cantonese assistant; Tien Quock, Cantonese assistant; Nancy Wang, co-administrator. L-R front: LiLing Davis, Sat. & Tues. Beginning Mandarin teacher; Judy Cheung, co-administrator; Nancy Loui, Mandarin substitute; Hsiu Chuan Armstrong, Sat. & Tues. Continuing Mandarin; Gloria Chung, School Treasurer; Lily Chang, Advanced Mandarin Saturdays, Adult Beginning Mandarin Tuesday. Thank you to all the faculty and staff!  Here is the Chinese Article by Frances Lok
All members are invited to submit articles or photos that may be of interest to other RECA
members for publication in this newsletter. Please mail your submissions to RECA's post
office box (see back page), or send them via email to reca_news@yahoo.com. Articles are
subject to approval and editing by the editor, and will be printed as space permits. Advertisements in the newsletter are available to all members. The fee is $30 for a one-time advertisement, or $100 for advertisements in all issues for one year. Please send a check for the advertising fee along with your ad to RECA at P.O. Box 7854, Santa Rosa, CA 95407.
Redwood Empire Chinese Association
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As the new year begins, we have had our annual election of officers and
we welcome our 2003 executive board: President, Nancy Wang; Vice President,
Mary Lowe; Treasurer, Shirley Brummell; Recording Secretary, Judy Cheung;
Corresponding Secretary, Kevin Ablett. .
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 © Copyright 2002 Redwood Empire Chinese Association |