January 2018 Issue

LTSC wishes you all happiness and wellbeing in the New Year. We hope you share our excitement for all the potential the Year of the Dog has to offer. As we inch closer to four decades of service, LTSC remains committed to delivering high quality programs that promote Positive Change for People and Places. In the spirit of turning the page, LTSC has kicked off 2018 with a new website. We encourage you to check out our new site.

Best wishes,

Dean Matsubayashi
LTSC Executive Director

Front row from left: Changes in the Community members Garrett Sasaki, Janelle Doi, Jordyn Morimoto, Kelsey Tochihara, Kyla Kikkawa, Aidan Kosaka. Back row from left: Sansei Legacy Giving Circle members and parents Jerry Nasu, John Nakaki, Sheldon Kuwahara, Lance Hama, Danny Haramoto, Gene Kanamori. Not pictured: Kirk Tanioka, Mark Doi, Scott Hiji.

Continuing a longstanding tradition, LTSC’s Resident Services program held holiday celebrations at the organization’s Angelina Apartments and Casa Heiwa affordable housing communities. Numerous families enjoyed food and festivities and nearly 300 toys were distributed at the two events.

For the fourth consecutive year, a high school student group called Changes in the Community (CiTC) organized a successful toy drive for the Angelina Apartments event. The students collected toys, games and gift cards and distributed them at the Angelina Apartments party. CiTC, which is currently composed of six service-oriented 9th and 10th-graders, is part of a national giving network supported by Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP). The students receive support from their parents and the Sansei Legacy Giving Circle.

LTSC was also honored to welcome a representative from the office of Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, who delivered presents and holiday wishes, at the Casa Heiwa event.

LTSC Senior Bingo Event

Every holiday season for the past 20 years, the Nikkei Basketball Association and LTSC’s Resident Services department have held a Christmas bingo party for seniors. At last month’s event, over 45 seniors played bingo, won gifts and enjoyed a bountiful holiday buffet. Singer Dr. Gary Moriquchi also treated attendees to impressive renditions of several Christmas carols.

Mark Kimura, a strong supporter of LTSC who runs the Nikkei Basketball Association, started the bingo party tradition as a way to celebrate seniors and bring them together for a fun holiday experience. Held at LTSC’s Casa Heiwa, the event draws residents from the different LTSC affordable housing communities. Many seniors attend the bingo party year after year. A few have participated since the first event in 1997. Organizers for the event are also happy to welcome new faces each year.

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped make the event a success.

Mayor Eric Garcetti signs the linkage fee measure.

Last month, the LA City Council voted to approve an affordable housing linkage fee, strongly supported by LTSC and a broad coalition of community organizations and affordable housing advocates. The measure promises to double the city’s annual affordable housing production, helping to address a growing homelessness crisis and a desperate need for safe housing among lower income residents.

LTSC applauds the Coalition for a Just Los Angeles, Councilmember José Huizar, Mayor Garcetti and numerous allies for their leadership and efforts in support of the linkage fee measure.

Yasunori Kawasaki

After losing his business, Yasunori Kawasaki found himself homeless and with declining health. En route to the hospital, Kawaski suffered another setback when most of his belongings were taken at gunpoint. In March of last year, Kawasaki reached out to LTSC’s Social Services department for assistance. Read his inspiring storyopens PDF file in the Winter edition of the LTSC Social Services newsletter Through the Seasons (p.3).

LTSC’s Margaret Shimada and Jade Yamada at The Bandai Foundation’s Time for Giving Celebration

Thank you to The Bandai Foundation for supporting LTSC’s program for disabled children and their families. The Bandai Foundation is committed to assisting charities that improve the environment in which American families and children live and play. Since its inception, The Bandai Foundation has contributed over $7.8 million to various charitable organizations.

The Bandai Foundation’s grant will fund LTSC’s efforts to help children with autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, muscular dystrophy and other disabilities gain stability in their family life and school.

We appreciate the support of The Bandai Foundation.

Prudential Lighting Event at Angelina Preschool

In December, LTSC was pleased to host holiday events put on by generous supporters Navidad en el Barrio (NEEB) and Prudential Lighting.

NEEB, an organization dedicated to distributing Christmas meals in marginalized communities, joined LTSC to share food baskets and toys at Angelina Apartments. The toys came to LTSC courtesy of the Asian Pacific American Community Holiday Toy Drive. In total, NEEB and LTSC were able to provide breakfast, toys, and food baskets to 84 families. In addition, 16 food baskets were given to LTSC’s Jumpstart Grandparent volunteers who help out at Angelina Preschool.

Prudential Lighting also paid a special visit to Angelina Preschool during the holidays. Preschool students eagerly lined up to meet Santa Claus at the event and Prudential Lighting also provided a delicious lunch for the families.

LTSC Intergenerational gardening

LTSC’s intergenerational gardening program, a collaboration with Asian Pacific Islander Forward Movement (APIFM), officially begins in January. The program will bring together seniors, youth and other residents of LTSC’s Casa Heiwa affordable housing community to nurture a garden at the building. Through the program, LTSC seeks to support relationships between seniors and youth, so younger participants can learn from their more experienced cohorts.

In November, participants gathered for the first time to learn about healthy meals and to plant seeds in the Casa Heiwa garden. Eventually, those seeds will produce vegetables and fruit, which will be used by local chefs to put on healthy cooking demonstrations for Casa Heiwa residents.

Team LTSC at Tanaka Farms

Over the holidays, LTSC staff and volunteers joined the Orange Coast Optimists Club’s annual Mochitsuki Pound Off Challenge at Tanaka Farms and the Annual Japanese New Year’s Oshogatsu Festival held in Little Tokyo.

The Tanaka Farms event attracted many community members and organizations to celebrate the New Year in Irvine with a friendly competition to prepare “Kagami Mochi,” a traditional New Year rice cake decoration. LTSC’s team started the morning off bright and early pounding rice into “mochi,” a dough-like, sweet rice pastry, they used to form the Kagami Mochi to be entered into the contest. The day was filled with mochi, taiko drums, food and good times. Thank you to Tanaka Farms for yet another successful and fun visit to the farm.

Little Tokyo’s Japanese New Year’s or “Oshogatsu” festival featured an array of art and entertainment. Members of LTSC’s staff were pleased to take in the festivities and share information about the organization’s other programs and services.

Bill and Ruth Watanabe

Thank you to all who have contributed to the Terasaki Budokan project’s special tribute campaigns. We are making great progress on campaigns to provide well-deserved recognition for Bill and Ruth Watanabe, the visionary former LTSC Executive Director and his wife; the late Judy Nishimoto Ota, former LTSC Housing Program Director; the late Philip Ito, a strong LTSC and Terasaki Budokan supporter; and the late Seiji Isomoto, an advocate for youth programs and a group called the Lakers Organization.

Please support these important campaigns. Now is the time to help us build “A Home Court for All.”

Events

January 12 – March 23 – Happy Cranes Seniors’ Origami Exhibition

February – April 2018 – Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Season

February 10 – Free One-on-One Session With A Financial Planner

March 2 – Everything You Wanted To Know About Estate Planning But Were Afraid To Ask

March 24 – Financial Planning for Younger Families/家族のための ファイナンシャルプラニング

Green Tip

Make sure the lint screen on your dryer is clean. Built up lint makes the dryer work harder.

Donors

Thank you to all our supporters for your contributions last month!

December 2017 Donors

George and Helen Abe Charitable Fund
Anonymous
ADS Consulting Group, Inc.
Toshie and Syed Ahmed
Yae Aihara
Don and Lynn Akamine
Dennis Arguelles
Arroyo Insurance Services
William Asato
Linda Asato
Jim and Elena Azama
Big Island Candies
Yoshiko Brown
Elizabeth Burton
Maria Cabildo
Shirley Chami
Mieko Chin
T.C. and Elaine Chung
Sam Demonteverde
Lee Draper and Tom Paiva
Hope Fang
Far Bar
FIA Insurance Services, Inc.
Akira and Atsuko Fujimoto
Akemi Fujimoto
Noriko Fujinami
June Fukuhara
Alex Fukui
Jerry Fukui
Peter Gee
Yas and Nancy Gohata
Yas Hagihara
Eiko Hale
Merilynne and Richard Quon
Toshio and Toshiko Handa
Marianne Hane
Mabel Fujita Harman
Icy and Janey Hasama
Maya Hayashi and Michael Taila
Dee A. Hayashi
Teruhiko Higashi
Thomas and Jean Hirata
Janet Hiroshima
Joseph and Aprille Hogg
Holly Services, Inc.
Miwako Hoshi
Steve and Janine Hunt
Takahiro Ide
Douglas Ikemi
Sumiko Inoue
Shinji Inouye
Lily Ann Inouye
Michael Iriye
Norma Ishigo
Sabrina and Darin Ishimatsu
Seiji and Nell Itahara
Paul H. Iwahashi
Jane and George Iwanaga
Miya Iwataki
Sharilynn Jung and Higashi Yoga
Cathy Kajiyama
Alice Kaku
Toshio Kamei
Emi Kamiyama
Jessica Kanai
Yoshie Kato
Suzy Katsuda
Jane and Harry Kawahara
Paul and Virginia Kawakami
Lily Kazahaya
Chikako Khan
Iku Kiriyama
Keith Kishiyama
Kitagawa & Ebert, P.C.
Toni and Gary Kitazawa
Steve and Akemi Kayleng Knight
Dennis Kobata and Jan Tokumaru
Harold and Reiko Kobata
Chris Komai and Qris Yamashita
Shirley Komoto
Kumiko Kondo
Raymond and Noriko Kong
Akiko Kotani
Eric Kurimura
Jane and Samuel Kurohara
Masao and Peggy Kushigemachi
Mitsuo and Keiko Kushigemachi
Amy and Scott Kushigemachi
James Kwon
Albert Kwong and Carol Takamatsu-Kwong
Combined Federal Campaign of Greater SoCal
Vien Le
Kelvin Lee
Nobuko Marcial
Jerry Martinez
Grace Maruyama
Gary and June Masada
Bruce Matsui
Kaoru Matsumoto
Takeshi and Hiroko Matsumoto
Emily Matsumura
Carol Matsunaga and Steve Ogasa
Dana and Masami Matsuno
Diana and Yoshi Matsushima
Robert and Teresa Matsushima
Diana and Yoshi Matsushima
James and Patsy Matsushita
Judy Matsuzaki
Kenyon Mayeda
Lorene and Mark Miller
Joyce Miyabe
Yuri Miyagawa
Amy Miyakawa
Robert Miyatake
Tomoko and Yukio Mori
Kinuyo Kay Mori
Mariko Motoyama
Eugene Moy and Susan Sing
Nancy and Mark Munekata
Jeff and Christine Murakami
Tatsuo Nagashima
Shiro and Sachiko Nakagawa
Stephanie Nakata
David and Lily Nakatani
Pat Naritomi
Margaret Narumi
Vy Nguyen
Scottie Chikashi and Sayoko Niizawa
Jean and Richard Nishimoto
Steve and H. Rachel Noguchi
May and John Nosse
Miguel Nunez
Hideki Obayashi and Jeanne Nakano
Takashi and Suzuko Oda
Dianne and Richard Odagawa
Susan Ogawa and Charles Taylor
Shirley Okayama
Barbara Okita
John Okita and Michiko Yamamoto
Mo and Charlene Ono
Ronald Osborne
Ken Ota
Ann and Koichi Otoide
Robert Ozaki, M.D.
Dahlia Reano
Kanji Sahara
Louise Sakamoto
Karen and Dennis Sakoda
Jane Kazuko Sakomoto
Glenn and Donna Sanada
Kaoruko Sato
Eugene and Catherine Sato
Taeko Schaeffer
Betty Seko
Luan Shang
Raymond and Sharon Shibata
Ellen and Alan Shimamoto
Bruce and Diane Shimano
Sam and Kuniko Shimoguchi
Stanley and Jane Shimotsu
Alan and Jean Shinseki
Roberta Shiroma
Donald Spivack
Tokiko Sugimoto
Lillian Sugita
Walter and Aiko Sumi
Sushi Gen
Nikki Sutton
Martin and Karen Tachiki
H. Chris Taga
Hisami Tahara
Jun and Shizie Taira
Edwin Takahashi
Julia Takeda
Robert Takamoto and Stephanie Higa
Carolyn Takeshita
Diane Tan and King Cheung
Richard and Cathie Tanabe
Bessie Tanaka
Cathy & Masaru Tanaka
George Tanaka
Setsuko Tanaka
Linda Tanamachi
Katie Tanijiri
Michi Tanioka
Minoru Tonai
Mildred and Melvin Toyofuku
R. and N. Tsuboi
Mary and Shigeo Tsuchiyama
Robert and Mae Uchida
Keith Umemoto
Mark and Vivien Usui
Amy Uyematsu and Raul Contreras
Alden and Teruko Uyemura
Matsuko Uyeno
Ken Wada
Edward and Momoyo Wada
Ronald Wakabayashi
Hiro and Gina Watanabe
Karen Watanabe
Ruth Watanabe
Erin Wayne
Allyne Winderman and Glenn Wasserman
Lisa Wong
Gayle and Craig Wong
John Wright
Sharon Yajima
Masaharu and Katsuko Yamada
Joe and Chizuko Yamagawa
Carole Yamakoshi
Karen Yamamoto
Don and Marilyn Yamane
Carol Yamane
Ken and Sandy Yamashiro
Jane Yamashita
Michael and Lilly Yanagita
Lorran Yano
Gary and Akemi Yano
Donald Yee
Gerald and Anne Yee
Janice Harumi and Chao M. Yen
Paul Yokoyama
Noboru Yonemoto
David Yoo
Brett and Susan Yoshimura
Tracy Yoshitake
Nolan Young
Kaori Young
Fei Yuan

In Honor of Bruce Iwasaki and Evelyn Yoshimura’s 40th Anniversary
Anonymous

In Honor of Masaoka/Aguilera Families
Kaz Ota

In Honor of Arthur Ichiro Murakami
Julie Murakami

In Honor of Yvonne and Alan Nishio’s 50th Anniversary
Christy Sakamoto

In Memory of Tomiko Akahori
Ted Akahori

In Memory of Kimi Fukumoto
Kiyo Fukumoto

In Memory of Yoshiro Harada
Sharon Harada

In Memory of Philip Ito
Barbara Ito

In Memory of Kuwa Iwataki
Suzy Katsuda

In Memory of Harry Kitahata
Les and Dianne Yamamoto

In Memory of Grace Nakamura
Yoshio Nakamura

In Memory of Walter Y. Oi
Mary Oi

In Memory of Tom Oshiyama
Kyle Oshiyama

In Memory of Jeannette Kyoko Sanderson
Emily and Dan Weaver

In Memory of Rev. Howard Toriumi
Roger Stephens and Laura Toriumi Stephens

Terasaki Budokan
Akemi Arakaki
Anonymous
Laura Blosser and Chris Argyros
Loana dP Valencia
Eugene and Teresa Eng
Jason and Lynnette Fujimoto
Karl and Yumi Fukunaga
Scott Harada
Janet Hasegawa-Chu and Cliff Chu
Shirley Hibino
Charles and Yuko Igawa
Bill Ito
Scott Ito and Nan Lee
John and Helen Sun
Nayon Kang
Brent Mori and Jessie Kikuchi
Sadao and Faye Kimura
Kinokawa Club of Wakayama
Elizabeth Kronbeck
Jane and Samuel Kurohara
Amy and Scott Kushigemachi
Emily Lawsin
Disa Lindgren
Norman and Mardy Maehara
Kathy and Mark Masaoka
Carol Matsui
Yuri Miyagawa
Jed Miyashiro
Niki Mooko
Mike Murase and June Hibino
Gilbert Nishimura
Alan and Yvonne Nishio
Victor Okada and Candace Lao
Hiroko Okazaki
Phoenix PDQ, Inc.
Wonderful Giving
Dora Quach
Nolan Y. Maehara, D.D.S. and Sandy Sakamoto
Glenn and Donna Sanada
Peggy and Aric Shen
Ellen and Alan Shimamoto
So-Phis Organization of Orange County
Darlene Sturgeon-Rothe
Grant Sunoo and Emily Mayeda
Jun and Shizie Taira
Diane Tan and King Cheung
Gary Uyekawa
Emily and Dan Weaver
Taylor Weik
Leonard and Marsha Young

Bill and Ruth Watanabe Director’s Office Campaign
Anonymous
Suzanne and Henry Borenstein Family
Deborah Ching and Mark Mayeda
Eugene and Teresa Eng
Julie Itahara and Mauricio Gutierrez
Jimmy and Alison Kochiyama
Eric Kurimura
Joyce Miyabe
Jean and Richard Nishimoto
David and Mary Noguchi
Tadao Okui
Michael Woo
Sally Yamashita
Bryce and Rosie Yokomizo
Atsuko Yomogida

In Honor of the Ito Family
Lisa Okamoto

In Honor of Adina Mori-Holt
Christine Pajak

In Honor of Arthur Ichiro Murakami
Julie Murakami

In Honor of the Jason and Janice Yamada Family
Margaret and Ken Shimada

In Memory of Yoshiro Harada
Lynn Harada

In Memory of Irene Fusako Hoshizaki
Cindy and Glenn Fujimoto

In Memory of Seiji Isomoto
SIS Fund

In Memory of Philip Ito
Masashi Kamoda
Vivienne Lee

In Memory of George Takeo Kasamatsu
Jayne and Gideon Young Family

In Memory of George and June Nakashima
Debra Nakatomi and Bob Miyamoto

In Memory of Judy Nishimoto Ota
Victor Aguilera
Martin and Karen Tachiki

In Memory of Monica Quan
Lily Tsurumaki

In Memory of Chor Chai Tan
Marie Tan and Gregory Tan

In Memory of Haruo Uchida
Catherine Uchida

Vehicle Donations
Marlene Antoku
Shuji Saito
Helen Uno

In-kind Donations
Baby2Baby
Saeko Dickinson
Tadahide and Rosa Kawahira
Prudential Lighting Products
Shelter Partnership
Marsha and Gary Watanabe
Linda Yokoyama