Nine-Hour Big Day of Giving Telethon Takes ACC to a Record-Breaking Finish

The 2023 Big Day of Giving (BDOG), organized by the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, came to a close at midnight on Thursday, May 4.  More than 750 nonprofits in the Sacramento region raised money for their causes. ACC raised $360,466, the largest amount raised in a single fundraiser in our 50-year history. We placed second, right behind The Salvation Army, which raised $398,647. View BDOG Leaderboard.

Donations received in the mail after May 4th brought our total to more than $400,000. A whopping 1,048 donors participated in this year’s Big Day of Giving, a 40% increase over last year. This result is not all that surprising. As someone who works closely with donors everyday, I hear how grateful they are for the help they received, whether it’s from skilled nursing, social services, transportation, or even from a single class they attended. Many tell me they want to pay it forward to help others in the community.

Roger and Florence Fong, Dr. Gordon A. and Merrily F. Wong, and an anonymous donor led the giving with donations of $25,000 and above. 11 donors made gifts between $5,000 to $24,999. 77 donors gave between $1,000 and $4,999. This included a donation from Naomi Goto, who made a gift in memory of her late husband Leo Goto, the founding president of ACC (1972). One donor made a $1,500 gift to ACC in honor of her exercise instructor, Rowie Alberto. The ACC Pickleball Club collected more than $2,000 in donations for ACC. Alignment Health, a Medicare Advantage plan, pledged $12,000 to be used for “ACC Rides transportation for outings, excursions, and field trips.” We are extremely grateful for the hundreds of smaller gifts we received for the Big Day of Giving. They play a huge part in keeping ACC going.

ACC’s Big Day of Giving Telethon was one of several events leading up to May 4. The Big Day of Community, held on the back lawn of ACC on April 22, featured 60 vendors and community booths, food trucks, and live cultural entertainment. More than 1,000 people attended the festivities. Seniors 85 and older received a free lunch.

The Big Day of Golfing on April 26 registered 144 ACC supporters into a friendly tournament held at Teal Bend Golf Course. The weather that day could not have been more perfect. Breakfast burritos and lunch at ACC were provided. Thank you to Don Morishita and Holly Fong Korach for co-chairing this event.

The Big Day of Pickleball started at 8 a.m. on May 2nd, but had to shut down early due to rain. It was rescheduled and finished the following week. A big thanks to Sunny Jung, Gary Berg, and Jeannie Fong for organizing this year’s tournament.

ACC’s Big Day of Giving Telethon was an epic two-day production held at the ACC campus on May 3rd and 4th and livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook. The telethon’s nine hours of programming featured musical performances, storytelling, and cooking demos from the ACC community. The emcees of the telethon were Jean Shiomoto, Jeri Shikuma, Scott Okamoto, and Dani Lee. Media veteran Sharon Ito was our guest emcee. 

New to the telethon was the Renaissance Society. They gave a short talk and then brought out their singing trio. Also new to the show were singer Alexa Mark, singers Roni and Rochelle Yadao, The Little Uke Group, philanthropist Moni Kondos, Lana Chong, and Thai restaurateur Suleka Sun-Lindley. Maryellen Burns and Chef David Soohoo introduced the ACC Community Cookbook, which will be available at the ACC Ohana Walk in September. Janice Joe led a presentation on the Congressional Gold Medal given to Chinese American WWII veterans. 

ACC Showstoppers opened Day 2 of the telethon with a rendition of “One” from the musical, A Chorus Line. Friends, family, and colleagues paid tribute to Virginia Wieneke, Program Manager, for her twenty years of service to ACC Rides. They presented her with flowers, a special edition of ACC News, and a cake. Later in the program, Rev. Matt Hamasaki from the Buddhist Church of Sacramento made a cameo appearance, playing the ukulele and singing “Over the Rainbow” to a surprised and delighted crowd. 

Returning to the telethon were the ACC Pocket Pickers, Folk Guitar Club, Guitar Ensemble, Asian Pair, Maeley Tom, Mette Mele, Patty Wood, Kimi Kaneko, Lorin Beacon, Carla Fontanilla and her band Ho’opili. Maple Tree Village Executive Director Yesenia Jones and two of her children performed an adorable rendition of “You Got a Friend in Me” and “La Bamba.”  ACC staff members Scott Okamoto, Dani Lee and Sean Hidalgo “rolled in” with a SNL “Weekend Update” inspired skit. Scott reprised his role as news anchor from last year’s music video, Dani as the ever busy Jean Shimoto and Sean as the lemon bar-loving Ted Fong.

In the last hour of the telethon, ACC was in a virtual tie for second place on the Big Day of Giving leaderboard. We made a snap decision to bring back performers Roni and Rochelle Yadao, extend the show, and have the emcees make one last appeal: “TAKE ACC TO THE FINISH LINE!” The ensuing surge in donations kept ACC in second place for the rest of the evening.