HISTORIC HAPPENINGS IN SILICON VALLEY
HISTORIC HAPPENINGS IN SILICON VALLEY
BY GERRYE WONG MAY 17, 2023
When the notable national organization, Committee of 100 held their recent May conference in San Jose, my Chinese Historical and Cultural Project extended an invitation for all conferees to come on a special tour and event at the conclusion of the conference at the Signia by Hilton Hotel in San Jose. Although they had a packed day of meetings ending with a gala dinner attended by over 500 guests, many expressed an interest in coming to see our Chinese American Historical Museum on May 6.
President David Yick and Chair Mike Mak welcomed all who came to History San Jose park where our museum is located, and I felt honored to express my appreciation for their interest in Chinese American history and to tell them the history behind our Chinese Historical and Cultural Project group who took on the City of San Jose’s challenge to build a museum to house newly found artifacts from a downtown digging site where the first Chinatown was situated in 1888. One hundred years later, I shared with the Committee of 100 visitors, our group rebuilt a replica of the original Ng Shing Gung temple that stood in one of San Jose’s 5 Chinatowns during the turn of the century, and installed a museum of the history of San Jose Chinatowns within its walls.
CAPTION: COMMITTEE OF 100 MEMBERS VISIT THE CHINESE AMERICAN HISTORICAL MUSEUM IN SAN JOSE; FOUNDER HENRY TANG WELCOMED BY GERRYE WONG
Before entering the museum for the tour, San Francisco’s famed Leung’s White Crane Lion Dance team performed for the visitors in welcome, and I had Committee of 100 Founder Henry Tang and Comm. of 100 delegate Wilson Lee present the appropriate traditional li see in appreciation for their performance welcome. The group, mainly from out of town, enjoyed seeing the timeline showing what was happening in China, US and San Jose during the period of 1850-2015. Others were in awe of the gold gilded large altar on the second floor, which had been refurbished by the group and was the original that immigrant population of San Jose used for worship, Chinese language school and hostel during the turn of the century.
CAPTION: WHITE CRANE LION DANCE TROUPE OPEN PROGRAM FOR COMMITTEE OF 100 VISITORS TO HISTORY SAN JOSE PARK.
CHI AM CIRCLE HONORS 40 ASIAN AMERICAN STUDENTS
A large group of well deserving 40 students were the recipients of scholarship grants from the CHI AM CIRCLE 2023 ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM recently before over 200 happy parents and family members. Choosing from a field of double their number of grantees was a very difficult process for the selection committee, a very daunting reflection of how hard to choose the best from a whole field of “bests”.
caption: CHI AM CIRCLRE SCHOLARSHIP PRESENTATION COMMITTEE AND 2023 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS RECEIVING THEIR HONORARIUM GRANTS
It is always amazing to the community that this Asian American women’s club of only about 100 members can come through for students to award up to 40 students each year to the tune of over $100,000. Maybe it’s due to the club being a women’s club, who for the most part are mothers, and thus see the needs of students to be recognized and acknowledged in some way for their hard work through their school careers. It really took a village of readers to read, evaluate and select the recipients so I take off my hat to Chairpersons Marichu Scanlon and Verna Wong who led the hard working selection team of Paulette Curby, Sylvia Eng, Linda Fong, Suzie Gillen, Diquan Gong, Ellen Lau, Amy Lee, Lisa Liu, Maria Lu, Kelly Matsuura, Shirley Pak, Teddy Sue, Ren Wang, Eva Wong, Judy Wong, Carol Yiu, Vanita Yuen and Karen Zhang.
caption: CHI A CIRCLE PRESIDENTS SHARON LAI & NIKKI CHOW WELCOME FOUNDER GERRYE WONG AND LARGE AUDIENCE AT SCHOLARSHIP EVENT
The event was held at Cupertino’s Quinlan Center with each of the 40 recipients given a chance to introduce themselves, tell where they graduated from, where they will go on to college, and what their career goals are in front of their beaming parents. An inspirational talk given by Keynote Speaker West Valley College President Stephanie Kashima set off the tone of what bright futures the students all had ahead of them, and to make the most of their dreams. Co Presidents Nikki Chow and Sharon Lai opened the program welcoming all of the students and their parents to this, the highlight of the club’s busy schedule. Name me any other organization you know that consistently awards up to 40 students annually allocating up to $100K in grants to some very happy students. More power to the women of Chi Am Circle so take a pat to your own backs for being such a mighty force to honor students in such a generous way to help them with growing college tuition costs.
caption: WILMA & DEAN CHU PRESENT GRANT TO THEIR RECIPIENT EDWARD LEE ; DR. DAVID SHEN HONORS STUDENT TYLER DE VEAS
In no particular order, the 2023 Chi Am Circle Scholarship Recipients were Michelle Liou, Kathleen Lum, Katherine Lee, Adarsh Krishnan, Nathalie Ho, Miranda Do-Tran, Adrienne Ferguson, Nathan Tran, Aadhavan Magesh, Elizabeth Cheng, Sharaniya Balasingam, Vy Huynh, Lia Fung, Leo Le, Evan Nguyen, Jelaiza Cruz, Aaron Cheung, Nathan Su, Edward Lee, Tiffany Lieu, Tyler Joseph De Veas, Vivian Truong, Jolina Wei Hor, Winston James, Bill Chen, Kate Feng, June Ngoc Vo, Danial Shih, Alan Lee, Christina Chang, Ryan Vincent Ramil, Syma Chan, Carolyn Wang, James Dinh, Katie Le , Samantha Leong, Katelyn Ho, Iris Chiang, Daniel Schendel and Hillary Le Huynh . Congratulations to you all!
CAPTION: CHI AM CIRCLE COMMITEE ; SPONSOR BARBARA WHY & STUDENT VIVIAN TRUONG; CAROL FONG MEMORIAL GRANT GIVEN TO LEO LE BY GERRYE WONG
Chi Am Scholarships are open to any graduating senior who resides in Santa Clara County, and has been an active program for this women’s group for over the past three decades. Much of the donated monies come from Memorial Funds given by families of deceased past members, as well as personal donations from the members themselves. Happy faces reigned following the ceremony when the students could finally take a sneak peek into their Chi Am Circle certificate, envelope and the all important honorarium check. Also leaving the event were some proud happy faces belonging to the over 70 sponsor donors who contributed to the Chi Am Scholarship fund also. A happy time for all~
MARTIN YAN GREETS MERIWEST BANK BOARD IN SUPPORT OF CHARITY
WHEN the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project (CHCP) held its 35th anniversary event in 2022, noted James Beard award winning chef Martin Yan donated a dinner with him as one of the live auction prizes. Following much active bidding, Honoree of the evening, Arthur Jue felt dejected as he had lost out on the bid to dine with Martin Yan.
Following the event, Martin didn’t want to disappoint anyone and offered a second chance to anyone with a second bid. . So finally Arthur Jue got his wish. Celebrating the announcement of the Meriwest’s new president, Lisa Pesta, Martin welcomed 30 of Meriwest Board and Staff to the beautiful private room of the HL Peninsula Pearl Restaurant in Burlingame.
CAPTION: MERIWEST BOARD CHAIR DR. ARTHUR JUE WELCOME NEW CEO LISA PESTA WITH FELLOW BOARD MEMBERS
In true Martin Yan style of generous entertaining, he brought three of his special cookbooks, chef’s knife and favorite circulon pan to give away as prizes for people who could answer the following questions: What are the three differences between Chinese and Japanese soy sauce? Name the 5 spices in the favorite Chinese cooking ingredient “Five Spice Sauce” and Name five of the 10 dishes we enjoyed tonight and what ingredients were in them? Could you have answered these questions and won his prizes? Hmmmm
Thank you to Martin Yan for being the host at this dinner with all proceeds going to Chinese Historical and Cultural Project’s treasury and thank you to Meriwest and Board chairman Arthur Jue for donating to the CHCP’s 35th Anniversary fundraising event.
CAPTION: NOTED CHEF MARTIN YAN HOSTS CHARITY DINNER TO CELEBRATE CHINESE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL PROJECTS 35TH ANNIVERSARY .
Ever personable, Martin is very generous of his time and energies to help non profit organizations raise funds during their auctions by donating dinners with him as coveted prizes. He even donated a dinner with him at his newly opened restaurant in Las Vegas, MY Asia. Kudos to philanthropist Martin Yan!
