Posts in category: blog

Episode 6 of the ACC History Project was livestreamed from ACC main campus on February 21. From One Became Many covered the origins of several Sacramento Asian American and Pacific Islander service organizations. Is there one person or one entity that should be credited for starting these nonprofit organizations?

Many of them were started or heavily influenced by ACC and some were started by community activists who were part of the forerunner organizations, Asian Community Services (ACS) and the Japanese Community Center of Sacramento Valley (JCC, later renamed to ACC). You can hear about those important organizations and individuals in Episodes 3 and 2, respectively.

First, let’s look at Health for All, Tanoshimi Kai, Asian Resources, Inc., and Stepping Stones (now Asian Pacific Community Counseling), organizations that were directly related to ACC. 

Around 1980, Health for All (HFA) was incubated by ACC from ideas that June Otow developed. At that time, June was an outreach worker at ACC and an original member of ACS. May O. Lee was a social work intern and recalls working with June and many volunteer mothers from the Southside neighborhood to do outreach and gain support for a preventative health clinic. ACC provided start-up funds and $1,000 came from the Sacramento Presbytery Mission Action Committee. HFA would eventually rely on Medi-cal reimbursements.

Many health and nursing professionals, Chinese and Vietnamese interpreters, and ACC board members were involved in launching HFA. Attorney Phil Hiroshima incorporated it. Dr. Richard Ikeda succeeded June as Executive Director. 

In the first ten years, HFA had staff that spoke seven languages and served many of the southeast Asian refugees coming to Sacramento County. HFA established the first school-based clinic in Sacramento, an Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Center, and four Adult Day Health Care programs. Eventually, HFA operated seven clinics, many housed at neighborhood schools to ensure preventative health care and immunizations were available to low-income communities.

ACC spent a lot of time identifying community needs for seniors. This led to the founding of Tanoshimi Kai with much of the grunt work done by Kenji Morishige. Tanoshimi Kai addressed the nutritional and socialization needs of the elderly Japanese. There were two sites. On Fridays, the Sacramento Buddhist Church hosted one and on Wednesdays, the Sacramento Japanese United Methodist Church hosted the other. Mrs. Minnie Tanihara took reservations and Betty Kashiwagi was the Nutrition Site Manager. Staff was paid through a grant from the Area 4 Agency on Aging.

A similar site was set up for the elderly Chinese at the New Helvetia Housing Project. It was run by Edna Liang.

Asian Resources, Inc., had its origins with ACC. In 1979, ACC ran the Summer Youth Employment and Training program. It was started to help Vietnamese college students and their families get jobs and financial support after the fall of Saigon. ACC applied to the county to receive funding. After the summer ended, ACC developed the Asian Manpower Program with Kathy Omachi as its Director. 

With the support of ACC, Raymond Lee spun off the program, incorporated it as Asian Job Resources Project and became the Director, but he had to leave shortly after for personal reasons. Soon after, May O. Lee became Executive Director. She wrote a new funding proposal, hired new staff, and organized a Board of Directors. The Board changed the name to Asian Resources, Inc. May would be the Executive Director for 26 years before retiring. Elaine Abelaye followed, and now Stephanie Nguyen is the current Executive Director of this successful organization.

My Sister’s House, Sacramento’s domestic violence shelter and services organization, was incubated by Asian Resources, Inc. Using the model of providing initial support, ARI staff person Carole Ching, community activists Hach Yasumura, Jean Chong, and Elaine Chiao, among others, planned and launched My Sister’s House.

Asian Pacific Community Counseling started as Stepping Stones in 1986 with Kathy Omachi as its first director. Harriet Taniguchi was on the ACC Board at that time. She recalls that there was a lack of culturally relevant and bilingual mental services for the API community. 

Paul and Marion Ono, Reverend Hei Takarabe of the Parkview Presbyterian Church, Dr. Luke Kim, Raymond Lee, Reverend Ninh Nguyen, Jane Tamano, Joan Hirose, Harriet, and others, organized to address this need. Through public advocacy and testimony, they were able to get funding from the Sacramento County Mental Health Department. Hence, Stepping Stones was born.

Reverend Ninh requested a separate program for the Southeast Asian community so Stepping Stones agreed to share resources, leading to the founding of the Southeast Asian Assistance Center.

Next, several other community organizations were started by activists who were part of ACS or who were inspired by “hanging out” at the Tambara House, the home of ACC. This includes the Yellow House tutoring and recreation program, the Asian Health Clinic, Asian Legal Services Outreach, and the Asian Pacific State Employees Association.

In the spring of 1970, Parkview Presbyterian Church approved the use of their house on the corner of 8th and T Streets for a tutoring and recreation program for students from William Land School. The students went there after school and in the summer. Because of its color, the location was dubbed the “Yellow House.” Lillie Yee Shiroi was in Professor Isao Fujimoto’s class at UC Davis and volunteered at William Land School. She recalls William Land’s students were more than fifty percent Chinese and many did not speak English well. That situation led to the creation of the tutoring program. Students from Sac State and UC Davis continued to help with the program.

Professor Fujimoto, who recently passed away, joined UC Davis in 1967 and headed up the Community Development Program. He also started the Asian American Studies program. Professor George Kagiwada also mentored students who wanted to do community work in Sacramento.

Raymond Lee and Harold Fong, two of the original members of ACS, boldly struck out on their own to establish the People’s Bookstore to promote socialism. They modeled their services after the Black Panther’s “Serve the People” program. They started programs like free film series, free day care center, free tri-lingual community newsletter, study groups, and a free health clinic inside the bookstore.

The health clinic eventually became the Asian Health Clinic. Dr. Lindy Kumagai started the clinic and recruited medical students from the UCD School of Medicine to staff it. The Bookstore continued to provide translators, transportation, and publicity. .Raymond stated that potential liability issues stopped them from continuing to have it in their bookstore but the health clinic continued elsewhere staffed by students from UC Davis. Today, it continues to operate as the Paul Hom Asian Clinic, the oldest existing Asian health clinic in the United States. It is led by medical director Dr. Ron Jan.

Asian Legal Services Outreach (ALSO) began in 1973, started by law students from UC Davis and McGeorge School of Law. Andy Noguchi, Joan Nosse, Wilfred Lim, Brent Kato, Clement Kong, and Will Yee were some of the eager students ready to create “good trouble” for the community. Despite not having a lot of experience, they helped with immigration forms and other administrative issues. The founders were part of ACS, which identified legal support as a community need.

ALSO closed in the summer of 1976 but was revived in the Fall by students from UC Davis King Hall. It was incorporated in 1977 and started receiving grant money so it could hire staff to continue with full-time services to the community. ALSO originally had office space in the Tambara House. The law students got to mingle with the other social workers and volunteers that hung out there. ALSO closed its doors after 20 years of operation.

The Asian Pacific State Employees Association was founded by another group of people not directly affiliated with ACC. But Dean Lan, one of the founders, recalled spending many hours meeting at the Tambara House to discuss issues of civil rights. He says meeting people like May Lee, Andy Noguchi, Hach Yasumura, Randy Shiroi, and Raymond Lee was inspiring because of their dedication to social activism.

So, was the Tambara House the “one?” Many of the people we interviewed commented on how wonderful it was to drop into the Tambara House and meet like-minded people. Harriet Taniguchi remembers that she was the coordinator for JCC as her social work placement. JCC converted the garage into a classroom for ceramic classes, Koto and Go. Social work students, recruited by Earl Shiroi, passed through for meetings and activities.

Earl’s name comes up often as the person who had the vision of organizing the community by focusing on needs and having activists work to create organizations that would provide those services. He was a mentor to many of the social work students that went on to start successful organizations. 

Many other people continue to pop up in the history of ACC. Take, for example, a young UC Davis student named Darrick Lam, who did an internship at Health For All in 1986. Darrick went on to get a master’s degree in Social Welfare and then worked for the City of San Francisco and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Now, he’s the CEO of ACC Senior Services! 

I think everyone agrees that neither ACS nor ACC is the “one” that created the “many.” In my opinion, the ONE is the shared vision of all those past leaders that providing services, education, and advocacy to our community was critical to being unified to exercise the power that came from that vision.

That’s the legacy of people like Earl Shiroi, Leo Goto, Chewy Ito, and the hundreds of other folks that ACC has been documenting. As ACC and other groups continue to expand services, it’s clear that there’s more work to do. Stay tuned.

By Jeri Shikuma, Home and Community- Based Programs Administrator

One of our goals at ACC is to enrich the community with topics that are important but sometimes difficult to discuss. Many of us prepare for important life phases like going to school, getting a job, getting married, raising kids, and planning our finances. But how do we prepare for caring for a loved one at the end of his or her life?

We just completed a four-part workshop series with Julie Interrante on this topic. She is an end-of-life counselor and a former hospital chaplain. Julie is also the author of the book The Power of a Broken Open Heart, Life-Affirming Wisdom from the Dying, available on Amazon.com. 

For more than 35 years, Julie has helped family caregivers understand what happens in the final phase of life and how to be present with their loved one. Here are some excerpts from the conversation I had with her after her last talk at ACC

Jeri: In each of your workshops, you had guests talk about caring for their loved ones at end-of-life. Tell us one of these stories.

Julie: I do want to reflect a bit on the couple who lost their adult daughter.  Their story offers us the chance to see that each person, regardless of relationship, handles caregiving and grief in their own way.  Mark was very clear about the pain and sadness of not being able to protect his daughter from her illness.  He showed us through his tears that the experience still touches him deeply.  Esta told us how she just couldn’t believe this was happening to her youngest daughter.  She also very courageously explained how after her daughter’s death, she and Mark grieved differently.  She talked with friends and shared her feelings while Mark was more private and did not have the same community of friends she did.  They both shared how they needed to find a time of day that worked for both of them to share their grief together.  

Esta and Mark have loved and supported each other and allowed enough room for each to walk their loss in their own way.  Letting go of our preconceived ideas about life, love, and loss is the message I hear in their story. 

Jeri: We all know that life has many phases, but you identify one called “the completion years of life.” Why do you call it that?

Julie: As I mentioned in the presentation, there is a beginning, a middle and an end to everything in life, including me and you and everyone.  For that reason, I think it is helpful to refer to the dying process as life completion because it reminds us that while the timing of our dying or the way we die, may not be in our control, we do take part in our dying.  Even if we know our time is short, we can make choices about how we want to live the days or months we do have.  

The idea that I am completing my life helps empower me to consciously connect, make meaning, say goodbye, and talk with the people I love about how I want to spend my time and my precious energy. When you share with clarity your thoughts, fears and desires with your loved ones, it helps create connection and gives permission to loved ones to talk openly as well.

How we stay connected in the dying process is the same way we stay connected during the rest of our lives – sharing with honesty, heart, tears, laughter, and presence.

Jeri: Throughout the series you talked about emotions that are normal, but that people may not accept them as such and become disconnected with their loved one.

Julie: It is very normal to have feelings of fear, sadness, relief, uncertainty, and anger to name a few.  For many people there is also a feeling of being numb or shut down, sometimes feeling paralyzed.  It is not uncommon to have a lack of focus, to lose things, forget names and words that ordinarily come easily.  These feelings may be uncomfortable and that is why often people want to get rid of them or don’t talk about them, but they are normal.  The feelings we have are providing information about what we need.  Taking time to validate our feelings and giving ourselves time and space to express them will enhance our ability to remain connected with the ones we love.

Jeri: When someone’s body is shutting down, certain “normal” things happen, and we have a tendency to want to intervene as opposed to just being present and letting nature take its course. What can people expect?

Julie: I believe you’re referring to the dying process itself.  There often comes a time when the person who is dying is no longer interested in eating or drinking. They often lose their appetite and interest in food.  This can be disturbing to loved ones because we are used to feeding someone when they are ill.  In the dying process however, this is not what is needed.  As the body shuts down, we no longer need nor want food and it is important to honor this shift in the body.  While this change can be difficult at first, it is signifying that it is time to stop “doing” and to become more present, perhaps simply sitting at the bedside of our loved one.  It might be a time to quietly share your favorite memory, or maybe read a favorite poem.  This is the time in the process where we receive the gift of being present in this tender, vulnerable and very precious time of life.

Jeri:  The caregiving journey doesn’t necessarily end when the care recipient dies.  What are some of the important things about the grieving process you would want people to know about?

Julie: The grieving process has a life of its own.  Grief is not something we control. It is something we live with.  There are a lot of ideas in our world about how grief will or should look, but grieving has many facets and many feelings.  Sometimes it looks and/or feels like anger, sometimes numbness.  Sometimes grief can look like shutting down.  It can look like overeating or crawling under the covers.  Sometimes someone in grief weeps for days and weeks on end.  Whatever your grief looks like, please honor it.  When you are ready, share it.  

You can consider a grief support group or grief counseling.  When someone we love dies, we are dropped into a very big transition of our own.  This is a time of uncertainty.  Often that uncertainty includes wondering how you fit in your life now or wondering whether life makes any sense anymore.  These are all normal.  

There is a general belief that grief will be over in a few weeks or a few months and that after that there is closure.  Grief does not work like that.  We don’t come to closure.  We learn to live with it.  Grief is a process, a life process.  It is painful, deep, and powerful.  It does get better and during it all, you will continue to laugh and love and cry.  And you will heal.

Watch Julie Interrante’s four-part end-of-life series at accsv.org/julie. Episodes include:

Conversations in Dying

Creating meaningful Experiences When Time is Limited

Walking a Loved One Home

Life After Loss

The Senior Escort Program provides escort services to seniors who feel unsafe or uncomfortable in public without accompaniment. This program was created by the Sacramento Senior Safety Collaborative (SacSSC) in response to the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. 

But there’s more to it than safety. Volunteers go on walks, trips to the grocery store, museum visits, and more to provide company, social interaction, and often physical exercise for seniors in need.  

Since COVID-19 began in 2020, the need to quarantine and maintain social distancing has created life struggles for many, especially for the senior population. Through isolation periods with no human contact, there has been a rise in mental illness, loneliness, declining cognition, and loss of life. Social connection for seniors is critical! The World Health Organization and AARP report that experiencing social connection for seniors has benefits that include disease prevention, fewer physical health problems, longevity in life, encouragement for the human spirit, and encourages a greater sense of belonging.

This free service that the Senior Escort Program offers to seniors adds life value! We appreciate our committed volunteers who help make this all possible. I personally was able to volunteer, and it feels so rewarding! One of our participants says that she is only able to get out for a walk and go to her Tai Chi classes when a volunteer comes to escort her. 

Says Ella Avenell, who attends McClatchy High School, “The Senior Escort Program was such a fun opportunity to help out my community! I really enjoyed walking with Ms. Jessie Lee. She was such a lovely person to talk to. I would recommend this experience to anyone!” 

Yes, we are creating opportunities for social contact, emotional support, active movement and intellectual stimulation in ways that strengthen one’s well being! To continue providing this service, we are in dire need of passionate, and friendly volunteers for our program. Many of our volunteers get just as much fun and social interaction out of the volunteering as the participants do. Retirees and students who need community service…we’re talking to you! 

Donna Fontenot is a three-year SCSEP participant, now serving as an Administrative Assistant trainee for ACC Senior Services. She retired from social work in San Francisco and relocated to Sacramento to assist with the care of her aged parents. Both passed away during the COVID-19 pandemic, but she wishes they would have been able to benefit from the Senior Escort Program. 

ACC has been helping low-income seniors to find employment through the SCSEP program since 2017. Every year, there are dozens of seniors with several barriers to employment such as disability, lack of work experience, low literacy skills, limited English proficiency, and homelessness, who find a job and start working. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging time to find employment for seniors, SCSEP has helped several seniors to exit for employment within 2021. 

One of our SCSEP participants, Carla Tumiwa, joined ACC SCSEP in March 2021. She came to SCSEP with a disability and low employment prospects. Her goal was to get a job and rebuild her financial independence. Because of her physical limitations, it was not easy, but her commitment to become self-sufficient and get a job brought her lots of success. 

Carla took a customer service class which added to her customer service knowledge and skills. After finishing the class, she took the Walmart associate test and passed the exam. After passing the test, she received a job offer from her local Walmart store and she started working as a cashier.

In the beginning, it was not easy for her to work as a full-time cashier. She became sick and had to spend a few nights at the hospital. But she didn’t give up. After her recovery, she went back to Wal-Mart working part time. Now it has been six months. Carla said, “My Walmart supervisor noticed that I am a hard-working person and wants to provide me easier assignments so that I don’t quit.” She is working as a guest specialist and wants to work full time again. The moral of her story tells us that anything is possible, but small steps will lead to great results. She started part time, built good relationships with her supervisor, and now she feels ready to go back to full time.  

Great accomplishments require hard work, dedication, and willingness to go above and beyond your comfort zone. But, once you reach the summit, then life will be better. 

The majority of SCSEP participants are facing physical limitations, but with accommodations and using the available resources, they engage in the community and live healthier and happier lives. To overcome our aging problems, we must work on our mindset, habits, and how we embrace the changes. Having the right mentality is all about positive thinking and believing that you can find ways to deal with your limitations and weaknesses. Our habits are a key part of our lifestyle. Building and developing healthier habits will help us to live happier and longer. Last, the ability to accept changes in your life, and adjust yourself accordingly will make the difference. But remember that small things lead to big changes and require time and patience.

ACC Senior Services has been awarded a grant of $7500 by the Sacramento Region Disaster Relief Fund of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation. 

According to Linda Beech Cutler, CEO of the foundation, the grant will be used for partial funding of a part-time production assistant, plus additional camera, mixer, and microphone equipment for the Lifelong Learning and Wellness Program (LLWP) at ACC.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, ACC’s Lifelong Learning and Wellness Program has livestreamed over 700 health and fitness classes, educational workshops and fun special events to older adults throughout Sacramento and beyond free of charge. Over the last year, LLWP received 2,000 registrations and thousands of unique viewers on YouTube and Facebook accessing archived classes, workshops, special presentations, and concerts.  The grant from the Sacramento Region Community Foundation will give us additional resources to increase the amount and variety of ACC’s online programming helping older adults to connect, be engaged, and live healthier lives.  

The Sacramento Region Community Foundation is an advocate for quality of life, dedicated to connecting people who care with charitable causes.  An effective steward of the region’s charitable assets since 1983, its mission is to transform our community through focused leadership and advocacy that inspire partnerships and expand giving.

By Jean Shiomoto and Ted Fong

Next year marks ACC’s 50th Anniversary, an important milestone for the community achieved through people like you, our donors, supporters, volunteers, sponsors, and dedicated staff over the past 50 years. 

We are grateful to have Gloria Imagire, longtime volunteer, supporter, and past ACC Board Member, spearheading gathering people in the community who laid the foundation for ACC.  To date, we’ve produced three online programs featuring conversations with May O. Lee, June Otow, Peggy Saika, Randy Shiroi, Harriet Taniguchi, Frances Lee, Hach Yasumura, Donna Yee, Brian Chin, Phil Hiroshima, Harold Fong, Raymond Lee, and Lillie Yee-Shiroi, each sharing their memories as we record ACC’s rich history. In addition, Gloria has been busy doing one-on-one interviews with people like Barbara Sotcan, Amiko Kashiwagi, Carol Seo, Jiro Sakauye, Jan Morikawa, Courtney Goto, Naomi Goto, Margaret Fujita, and Helen Quan as they go down memory lane sharing what they did and whom they worked or volunteered alongside.  

In this issue of ACC News, we share with you the early beginnings of the grassroots call to action captured from conversations with them, recalling their vision, dreams, and involvement as they understood the need for care, services, and housing for the elderly.

Most people today are unaware that the seeds of ACC were planted by young Asian activists in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Their ranks included students from UC Davis, Sacramento State College, and Sacramento City College, along with faculty members. They were empowered by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, emboldened by the protests of the Vietnam War, and deeply concerned about allocation of public resources to Asians and non-English speaking immigrants in their communities.  Several of the student leaders were pursuing degrees in social work and Asian American Studies, programs that were trending on college campuses.

In 1969, they banded together to form Asian Community Services (ACS), not just to advocate for the rights of minorities, but also to provide services for the underserved. They confronted United Way for collecting money in the community but not investing it in social services programs to help Asian immigrants. They staged protests at Fantasia Miniature Golf Course for their use of racist pictures and slogans. They rallied the Asian community to prevent the closure of William Land School.  They were community builders, launching recreation programs for the elderly and providing tutoring services for immigrant children.

In 1970, ACS set up its field office in what was then known as the Yellow House on T Street, which belonged to the Parkview Presbyterian Church.  People like Lillie Yee and Randy Shiroi began tutoring Chinese immigrant kids attending William Land School. Margaret Fujita taught ceramics, Etsu Wakayama taught calligraphy, and Kiyono Ito taught knitting. They would later move to 1118 V Street.

In 1972, ACS lobbied the Sacramento City Council and secured $6,800 to fund its programs. They were backed by the Sacramento Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), Sacramento Japanese United Methodist Church, and Parkview Presbyterian Church. Actions like these dispelled any notion that ACS was a group of rebels, radicals, and troublemakers. The people who coalesced around their cause would remain involved in building ACC Senior Services over the next 50 years.

The early 1970s was a great awakening for the Asian community. In addition to ACS, there were other grassroots groups representing the interests of the Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and Korean communities. One of these groups started as a workgroup convened by Leo Goto to study the feasibility of building a Japanese cultural center.  Leo was born in Spokane, Washington, the son of a minister. He had moved to Sacramento to work as a project manager for the Sacramento Redevelopment Agency. Outside of work, he harbored a burning desire to develop a Japanese cultural center that would bring the Sacramento Japanese community together, celebrate their heritage, and look to the future. But he also wanted the development to be inclusive and “open to all Americans in all walks of life.” Architect Alan Oshima developed drawings that defined space for housing, exhibits, classes, a library, restaurants, and shops. The project caught the interest of Asian community organizations, private businesses, and churches around Sacramento. 

In January 1972, 50 representatives from different organizations met and decided to form a non-profit entity. On March 1, 1972, the Japanese Community Center of Sacramento Valley, or JCC, was incorporated with help from young attorneys Phil Hiroshima, then president of JACL, and Frank Iwama. Peggy Saika, who had been involved with ACS, was selected to conduct a study to determine the needs of the community. This study took eight months to complete and was published on November 27, 1972. It identified housing, healthcare, and independent living for the elderly as key needs of the community. “For all practical purposes, the elderly housing complex and the cultural center should be within close physical proximity to each other,” the study recommended. One floor of the housing complex was to serve as “an intermediate healthcare facility.” 

Several community members played dual roles in ACS and JCC – Hach Yasumura and Randy Shiroi and Peggy Saika among them – providing a connection between the two groups. Initially, some of the leaders felt that the ACS folks were rebels and radicals. While people from JCC were older and more established in their professions, eventually they took a liking to their younger counterparts in ACS for their thoughtful views and action-oriented agenda.

 In September 1973, the board of ACS decided to dissolve the entity and turn over their Asian Senior Programs which served mainly Japanese Americans seniors to JCC. In its final newsletter, they stated that ACS had fulfilled its goals of 1) “raising issues that affected or were of concern to the Sacramento Asian community,” and 2) “initiating community development programs in which the people being served would eventually take over and run these programs themselves.”  In their service to the community, ACS left behind the foundation for ACC’s senior services that still exists today.

Also in 1973, the Nixon administration ended federal subsidies to low- and middle-income housing projects. This was not good news for JCC, since housing was a central part of its development plan. JCC could not raise enough money to build the Japanese Cultural Center and senior housing complex. In March 1974, Leo Goto announced that the plan would be abandoned, but that it would continue to provide services to the community through programs originally developed by ACS.

The ideas unleashed by JCC’s study captured the community’s imagination. In 1979, JCC changed its name to Asian Community Center of Sacramento Valley. Chewy Ito, who was already serving as the JCC Board president since 1974, presided over the expansion of more services and the plan to provide healthcare and housing for the elderly. A gas station owner turned community organizer, Chewy was instrumental in getting business people, public officials, donors, and volunteers to support ACC’s growth.  Developer Angelo Tsakopoulos donated land on Rush River Drive for the construction of ACC’s skilled nursing facility, which was completed in 1987. 

People often ask, how has ACC endured for nearly 50 years? The consensus is that collaboration among the Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian minority communities ensured that the best ideas for the entire community would be brought forward and championed. Sacramento was arguably the only city in the country where this type of cross-cultural collaboration took place. Secondly, people from ACS and JCC had complementary skills and visions. ACS excited and mobilized the masses, while JCC brought in people with money and influence. Both camps were inclusive, embracing an all-Asian approach to advocacy and program development. Today, ACC Senior Services serves the Asian and non-Asian communities alike.

As ACC looks forward to the next 50 years, we will be standing on the shoulders of those who came before us.  Thank you for your continued support of ACC.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every donor to ACC Senior Services this past year.  While each issue of ACC Newsletter acknowledges donors who have given in that quarter, we also want to acknowledge the many businesses that have supported ACC over the years. Because of your generosity, ACC continues to offer a continuum of senior housing from independent living to assisted living and memory care to skilled nursing for over 270 residents. In addition, our home and community-based programs support our greater community with transportation, lifelong learning and wellness, senior employment training, and support for caregivers. In 2021, our programs helped 2,400 people live healthier and more meaningful lives.

The pandemic has touched all our lives and shown us how important it is to stay connected throughout the changes and challenges in 2020 and 2021. Through this, our commitment to the ACC community remains strong.  We are blessed with many supporters and are excited for the new year. On behalf of the ACC Board of Directors and the ACC staff, thank you for your ongoing support.

With much gratitude,

Jean Shiomoto, ACC Board Chair and
Darrick Lam, ACC President and CEO

RESTAURANTS

• A Sushi Experience (Oto’s Market Place)
• A Taste Above Restaurant
• Akebono Restaurant
• Aviator’s Restaurant
• Banzai Sushi
• Binchoyaki Izakaya
• Cacio Restaurant
• Caffe Latte Restaurant
• Chick-Fil-A
• Device Brewing Company
• Edokko II
• Far East Cafe
• Fishology Poke Bar
• Frank Fat’s
• Hana Tsubaki
• Harry’s Cafe
• Hing’s Chinese Cuisine
• Hong Hong Islander
• L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, Lake Crest Village
• Le Croissant Factory
• Lemon Grass Restaurant
• Macau Café
• Marie Callender’s Restaurant, Freeport Blvd.
• Mikuni’s Japanese Restaurant
• Nagata Sukiyaki
• New China Restaurant
• New Hong Kong Wok
• New Lai Wah
• Oak Park Farmers Market
• Origami Asian Grill
• Osaka Sushi
• Osaka Ya
• Oshita Sushi
• Shari’s Restaurant
• Sushi Cafe
• Thai Palace
• The Izakaya
• Yoshi’s Japanese
• Zocalo Restaurant

FLORISTS

• Balshor Florist
• Bouquet Florist & Gifts
• Kiyo’s Floral Design
• Royal Florist

ICE CREAM

• Leatherby’s Family Creamery 
• Vic’s Ice Cream

MARKETS

• Bel Air
• Nugget
• Oto’s Market Place
• Trader Joe’s

WINERIES

• Bogle Vineyards
• Heringer Family Estates
• Wilson Family Winery

OTHER

• Apollo Signs
• Blossom Ridge Home Health & Hospice
• Bruce Yoshida, Baird Wealth Management 
• Calpo Hom & Dong Architects
• Edge Electrical Consulting
• El Dorado Savings Bank
• Frank’s Quality Meats
• Garage Champs Printing
• Gene W. Wong, Attorney at Law
• Hiroshima Daggett
• Kenneth Sakazaki, O.D., Katrina Gallardo-Chang, O.D., Sacramento Optometric Group 
• King’s Auto Service
• Laurence Larsen, D.D.S.
• Leland Lee, D.D.S
• MAC Knife, Harold Arimoto
• Moyneur & Persiho Family Dentistry
• Murphy Austin Attorneys, Keeva Coe
• North American Foods Dist. Co. Inc.
• Pinnacle Asset Management, Inc.
• RBC Wealth Management, Nick Crane
• Red Hawk Casino
• Reeve-Knight Construction 
• Rosie Day Spa, Rose Ho
• Sacramento Region Community Foundation
• Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society Alliance

Special thanks to the members of the ACC History Project Workgroup for their contributions to this and other articles commemorating ACC’s 50th anniversary: Gloria Imagire, May O. Lee, Frances Lee, Donna Yee, Hach Yasamura, Peggy Saika, Jean Shiomoto, and Ted Fong.  

By Jean Shiomoto and Ted Fong

The Asian Community Nursing Home, later renamed ACC Care Center, opened in 1987. It was the culmination of a 15-year effort to provide much needed housing and health services to elderly Asians. With little experience and no capital, ACC improvised its way to success by finding the right volunteers with just the right knowledge, resources, and connections.

ACC was founded in 1972 as the Japanese Community Center (JCC) by an uncommon alliance of activists, businesspeople, and civil servants from the Chinese and Japanese communities in Sacramento. Under the leadership of its chairman, Leo Goto, they set out to develop a community center in south Sacramento complete with senior housing, a health facility and spaces for education and cultural activities. Skilled nursing was not on their radar at the time. 

ACC was counting on federal funds to finance its project. These hopes were dashed in 1974 when the Nixon administration put a moratorium on funding for new housing projects. Undeterred, ACC focused its attention on its programs which had already gained community support. Besides its recreation programs of ceramic arts and knitting crafts, it started a nutrition program led by Kenji Morishige, called Tanoshimi Kai, for the Japanese speaking elderly and later was the model used to start up the Chinese speaking nutrition program.  ACC was an ESL outreach site of Sacramento City Unified School District for immigrants learning English.

True to its activist roots, ACC also staged protests against United Way for ignoring Asian communities in their grant making.  The protests led to United Way understanding the needs of the Asian communities and providing much needed grant funding. 

ACC incubated and launched non-profit organizations such as Asian Pacific Community Counseling and Health for All, and started  Summer Youth Training that later evolved to employment and training programs under Asian Resources. ACC assisted student-led organizations such as Asian Legal Services Outreach, law students from McGeorge and UC Davis King Law School, and medical students under Dr. Lindy Kumagai from UC Davis who started up the Paul Hom Clinic.  

After launching these organizations, the ACC Board made a decisive move in the early ’80s to rely more on community support rather than government grants to fund operations. They wanted to minimize competition with fledging community organizations seeking local and state funds.  This kicked off the era of membership drives and fundraisers, which later proved to be useful skills when raising money for the nursing home. 

In 1980, housing for the elderly made its way back onto the Board’s agenda. On July 22, ACC held a community meeting at the Nisei VFW Hall on 5th Street, inviting people to share their ideas. People stepped forward to express the need for a nursing home that served Asians. Many of them grew up in multi-generational households that took care of grandparents. But with life expectancy on the rise, it was harder to do so as their loved ones required higher levels of care. Sacramento had not a single skilled nursing facility that attended to the language and dietary needs of their parents. 

The idea of a nursing home gained momentum within ACC.  In a 2015 interview with ACC’s Amy Voong, ACC President Chewy Ito said he was inspired by Helen Quan, who, with her husband Dale, delivered fresh fruits and other presents to residents in Sacramento nursing homes. The Asian residents they met were so isolated the Quans felt something had to be done. They and a small group of friends including Harry Sen and Earl Whang tried to start a nursing home project, but it never got off the ground. According to Chewy, Helen implored him to “do something about it.” She donated money she had raised to ACC and became a volunteer.

The ACC Board decided to explore “convalescent care services,” a priority project for 1981-82. They even considered the purchase of a 121-bed skilled nursing facility, located in the south area of Sacramento. The ACC Board consulted with Edwin Hiroto, Administrator of Keiro Nursing Home in Los Angeles, and invited him to Sacramento to speak at an event. Spurred on by his encouraging words, ACC became even more focused on making the nursing home in Sacramento a reality.

From 1981 to 1983, key people entered the picture, took positions on committees, and used their influence to raise community support and money. Among them were Robert Matsui, Jimmie Yee, Illa Collin, Phil Isenberg, Dr. William Fong, Henry Takeda, George Oki, Ben Mar, Bill Wong, and Margaret Lim. There are too many to mention them all. 

The driving force behind this type of organizing was ACC’s Chewy Ito. He owned the Shell station on Riverside Boulevard. People in government and business got gas from his station while he talked to them about ACC. Longer meetings were held at his “office” at Vic’s Ice Cream. Today, his table is still there with his name on a plaque. “Chewy knew how to round up the right people,” recalls Barbara Sotcan, who was the ACC Coordinator in the 1990s. “He was a force of nature.”

By 1983, ACC had developed a well-oiled fundraising machine. Over 500 people attended its Holiday Auction in December 1982, which featured guest auctioneers Stuart Satow, Phil Isenberg, Tom Nakashima, Maeley Tom, Courtland Chow, and Sandra Gin Yep. ACC also hosted “East Meets West,” a fashion show organized by Helen Quan. It raised $2,500. According to ACC News, “Molly Kimura and Maeley Tom coordinated models in a rich display of historical costumes and ultra-modern fashions.” Denise Masunaga, owner of the store Madam Butterfly in Pavilions, an upscale shopping center on Fair Oaks Boulevard, provided the ultra-modern fashions.  

ACC’s operating budget was around $42,000 annually. It was only going to get larger with the development of the nursing home. Local churches played a big role in supplying volunteers and donors to keep ACC afloat. This included Sacramento Japanese United Methodist Church, Parkview Presbyterian Church, Sacramento Buddhist Church, and Chinese Community Church.

ACC’s fabled Bingo operation also started in 1983. Frances Lee, who was recruited to the Board by Gloria Imagire, volunteered to be the Bingo Manager. She said her son Robert had finished high school, and she was “looking for something to do.” Frances and her husband Will ran Bingo for its entire run of 22 years!  In the first five months of operation, Bingo earned $40,000. That’s $112,000 in today’s dollars. 

Money was still tight. The cost of the nursing home project was projected to be $3.8 million. The Nursing Home Finance Committee, chaired by Henry Taketa, retained the services of Gary Hicks (Gary would later join the ACC Board) of the Dowdell Corporation to secure bond financing that would be insured by the State. But ACC was nowhere close to having enough collateral to meet regulatory requirements. 

The breakthrough came in 1983, when developer Angelo Tsakopoulos donated land on Rush River Drive to build the nursing home. In the words of Chewy Ito, “Robert Matsui introduced us to Angelo Tsakopoulos. Angelo was going to give us 1.5 acres, but when he saw the plans, he said ‘That won’t fit on 1.5 acres!’ We offered to buy the rest of the property, but Angelo said ‘no’ and donated the full 3.5 acres to the Asian Community Nursing Home.”

Angelo had a history of making large charitable donations to the Greek and other communities. He had (and still has) many friends in the Asian community and appreciated their contributions to Sacramento. He also had land holdings in the Pocket Greenhaven area, to which many Japanese Americans and Chinese Americans moved after redevelopment displaced them from downtown Sacramento.  Enough cannot be said about his endearing relationship with ACC Senior Services even to this day.

When Chewy announced news of Angelo’s land donation in mid-1983, it hit the ACC community like an earthquake, a good earthquake. Finally, there was a path to the finish line, except for one small detail. ACC needed a $2.1 million letter of credit to guarantee the repayment of the bond. Additional fundraising would take years to raise that amount. 

The man who solved this problem was Victor Yee, Vice President of Sacramento Savings and Loan. One day while Victor was filling up his car at Chewy’s gas station, Chewy told him about the problem and lamented that three banks had turned ACC down. Victor took action and presented the case to the President of his bank, William Hegg. A meeting was called. It was attended by William Hegg and Victor Yee for Sacramento Savings and Loan; Chewy Ito, Toko Fujii, and Gary Hicks for ACC; and officials from the three other banks. 

Chewy presented ACC’s project. William Hegg then urged the other banks to participate in the deal and said that Sacramento Savings and Loan would underwrite the full amount if they still chose not to.  They chose not to. Unfazed, Sacramento Savings and Loan issued the letter of credit. In a recent interview, Victor said, “it was an easy case to make for my bank, because the nursing home brought so much value to the community.” 

On August 22, 1985, the California Health Facilities Authority approved the $3.8 million bond issuance for the Asian Community Nursing Home, 30-year fixed rate at 9-1/4%.

The design of the nursing home was done by Herb Niiya and his firm, Vitiello and Associates. It was based on a design they had completed on a similar project. In 1984, ACC formed the Nursing Home Advisory Board to present the design to the community and solicited input about what services would best serve them. Bob Garrett from the Florin United Methodist Church was its chairperson, followed by Art Imagire. Ray Gee, a consultant from Eskaton, was also a member. He went on to become ACC’s Housing Specialist and Controller, teaming up with ACC CEO Donna Yee to develop ACC’s Park City properties, ACC Greenhaven Terrace, and ACC Maple Tree Village. 

Ben Yokomizu was the Site Manager overseeing ACC’s interests in the project. He was the link between the contractor (Murchison Construction), the architect (Vitiello and Associates), the ACC Building Committee, and ACC staff. Prior to ACC, he was a construction engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers.

Groundbreaking for the Asian Community Nursing Home took place on a windy, dusty day on October 6, 1985. It was attended by more than 200 people. Chewy Ito gave the welcoming message, followed by congratulatory remarks from Angelo Tsakopoulos, State Senator Leroy Greene, Supervisor Illa Collin, several state officials, and Thomas Chinn, representing the community at large. ACC Board member Toko Fujii was the emcee. Reverend Virstan Choy from the Chinese Community Church and Reverend Joyo Ogawa from the Sacramento Nichiren Church gave the invocation and benediction. 

The Grand Opening Ceremony of the Nursing Home took place on November 6, 1986. Frederick Takayesu became its first Administrator. Patricia Harada, RN, was the Director of Nursing. Calvin Hara was the Director of Administration and Operations. Barbara Horikoshi Firebaugh was the new ACC Coordinator. 

There was still some finishing work that had to be done on the building and ACC still had to pass the state inspection. At the start of 1987, the Board added new members, including Nancy Akabori, Joyce Sakai, Dr. Henry Sugiyama, Gary Hicks, Eugene Kim, and S.C. Miura. In April 1987, the Asian Community Nursing Home opened its doors for business.

The story of the Asian Community Nursing Home offers an important lesson for the future. When a community works together for a common goal, great things can happen. This episode in our history brought out the best in people – compassion, creativity, patience, and selflessness. May the next 50 years bring out the same in all of us!

For more articles and videos on the history of ACC Senior Services, visit accsv.org/history.

As many of you have heard, LLWP’s fearless Program Manager, Susan Sarinas, retired from ACC in December. What would be a job description for her replacement; superwoman? This succession will be challenging, but I look forward to continuing her efforts fostering community relationships, implementing in-person and online classes, and managing clubs and rentals. 

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Dani Lee, I was born and raised in Sacramento, and I am finishing my Master’s in Public Health from the University at Albany. I feel overwhelming support from our volunteers and community members, and am astounded by the ACC family welcome I am receiving. 

2021 was a year of changes, with some ups and downs for everyone to say the least. The pandemic continued to affect every aspect of life, and the Lifelong Learning and Wellness Program was no exception. The questions about in-person events versus online were frequently asked, but with our population being at such a high risk, our leaders wanted to be as safe as possible. There is no doubt that in-person learning and wellness has its benefits, but online offerings have shown us just how wide of a reach we can have, and gives us hope for the future. 

While some of the social interactions have been missed, the online response has been tremendous! In November, we had some registered viewers and participants from five different states! We engaged a live audience for our variety of topics this fall, including the ACC history project, zero-emission car demonstration, David SooHoo’s cooking, and much more. We have live streamed more than 500 classes, workshops and concerts in 2021! We were able to engage people who otherwise would have no connection to ACC. 

As everything was offered for free, we have been relying on donations and sponsors to help support our staff and instructors. Please let us know if you are interested in being involved, we couldn’t be more appreciative of what our community has given, from volunteering all the way to sponsorships – you are all so precious to us. 

The Delta variant came as a shock to most, but gave us the signal to put a hold on in-person events and large gatherings. With the coldest months still upon us, we plan to attempt more hybrid (both in-person and online) opportunities, with the anticipation of in-person exercise classes in April! Cold and flu season will continue, but we look forward to taking advantage of the warmer months. These hybrid presentations will allow a small portion of vaccinated, masked, and distanced participants, and will help our transition to a new version of what ACC will become.

As we move forward with this new model of life, our program is exploring a new framework of what exactly “Lifelong Learning and Wellness” means and hopes to provide for the community. Enhancing health outcomes, such as reducing sedentariness, is a priority for us. We also want to enhance our community’s knowledge about, sometimes difficult, but significant topics like how to approach hospice and have meaningful conversations with someone who is passing. We want to heighten an individual’s motivation and self-efficacy to live a life that they desire. 

We have some exciting speakers this quarter including food historian Maryellen Burns,  end-of-life educator Julie Interrante, and historian James C. Scott from the Sacramento Public Library. We also have Lana Chong Fong’s Joong Boot Camp coming in February! So stay tuned. I look forward to meeting you all in 2022!

Happy New Year! It’s good to see that the vaccine and continuing safety measures have allowed us to get out of the house, socialize, and travel again. At ACC, we are slowly resuming in-person activities, classes, and workshops. We are also gearing up to celebrate our 50th anniversary. Indeed, there is much to be happy about in the new year!

Once again, we are happy to share the ACC Care Center has been named one of the “Best Nursing Homes in the U.S for 2021-2022” by U.S. News and World Report. The Care Center is among the elite 13% of 15,000 nursing homes that are designated as “High Performance.” This year’s rating factored in COVID-19 vaccination rates, infection control violations, resident safety, and prevention of ER visits. COVID-19 changed the field quite a lot. According to the report, “a significant percentage of Short-Term Rehabilitation and Long-Term Care programs that would otherwise have qualified as ‘High-Performing’ were downgraded at the time of publication.” Congratulations to Administrator Tamara Kario and the ACC Care Center Team. The pandemic has challenged ACC to reimagine the delivery of services, not just skilled nursing and assisted living, but the other “lifelong services” that older adults need.  This includes social services, health and fitness programs, transportation, nutrition, and caregiver support. 

The demand for these services is increasing as people live longer and their caregivers, many of them seniors themselves, reach a point where they need relief. Many of us have been caregivers or are caregivers today. 

In response, we reorganized ACC Programs into ACC Home and Community Based Services.  One of its first initiatives was to bring online classes and workshops into people’s homes via livestreaming on YouTube, Facebook, and Zoom. To date, we have livestreamed more than 600 class sessions, workshops, and concerts. Under the direction of Program Administrator Jeri Shikuma, the program recently received a $7,500 grant from the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, as well as $1,000 sponsorships from Bruce Yoshida, Dr. Leland Lee, and Russell and Mira Nakano to fund production costs. Let’s keep those sponsorships coming!

In addition, ACC is committed to expanding its services through a “no wrong door” approach.  This person-centered framework provides seniors with a Care Navigator that will offer short-term case management services. In coordination with County and other nonprofit providers, ACC will provide direct services to older adults in Sacramento who require assistance with food, transportation, housing, health care, interpretation services, long-term care planning, and employment opportunities. Planning is in place to hire a full-time social worker/navigator to staff the Care Navigation Program. This individual will provide direct services to older adults and enable them to access services in the areas mentioned above so that they will be able to maintain their health and independence in their own homes. 

2022 is the 50th Anniversary of ACC Senior Services. To begin the celebration, we launched the ACC History Project, a series of presentations that examine key developments in ACC’s history. The recent ones covered the development of the Asian Community Nursing Home and the history of ACC Bingo.  The next episode is “From One Became Many,” scheduled for February 21 at 2 PM. Hosted by May O. Lee, it will look at all the community organizations that spun off from ACC. There are many! You can register by going to accsv.org/online.

We are excited to share ACC is planning a 50th Anniversary golf tournament, several concerts, cooking shows, and the Big Day of Giving Telethon in May. The official 50th Anniversary celebration event is planned for this fall along with a new event, a walkathon for everyone of all ages to enjoy.   The Co-Chairs for the 50th Anniversary are Gloria Imagire, Lori Lee, Jean Shiomoto, and Kala Haley-Clark. We are also planning retro events such as bingo and the craft and bake sale.  Keep a lookout for many fun events!  We want to thank Michael Yang, ACC’s IT Specialist, for designing the 50th Anniversary logo and Greg Mar for donating his graphic design skills to professionally digitize the design.    

We want to thank Chiang Wang, who has given so much to ACC, for his service as our Vice Chair of the Board. Tim Corcoran will be the new Vice Chair beginning in 2022. We also want to thank Joyce Iseri, whose term ends,  for serving on our Board for six years, most recently as the Board Secretary. Betty Masuoka will be the new Board Secretary. Finally, we want to welcome Brent Luu as our newest Board member.

As we enter 2022, we want to thank the ACC staff, donors, supporters, and all our volunteers for supporting ACC and keeping ACC’s momentum going through 2021, a challenging year.  Our 50-year history has shown ACC’s resiliency, compassion, and vision that have been passed down for more than three generations. These are the qualities of ACC that will continue to carry us through the next 50 years.