The Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon has been a regular annual event held by ACC Senior Services for many years. This has traditionally been an opportunity for ACC to give back to our volunteers and thank them for all the service they provide to both ACC and our community.
Normally this event is held in April of each year, but due to COVID-19 and the concern for the health and safety of our volunteers and staff, it had to be postponed. We still wanted to show our appreciation to our volunteers, however, and our Volunteer Development Committee came up with the great idea of having a drive-through event to have people come pick up an insulated lunch bag filled with a fresh Vietnamese sandwich, drink, ramen, cookies, cloth face mask and some appreciation cards.
Nancy Iseri places items into bags.
Virginia and Linda perform quality control.
Cynthia Huang places Vietnamese bánh mì sandwiches into lunch bags.
Board Vice Chair Chiang Wang loads his car before starting on his delivery route.
Plans were well under way to do this, with over 150 volunteers signed up, and the logistics were almost complete. As the pandemic worsened in the Sacramento community and at ACC, the staging of the event was looking to become more and more difficult. Volunteers would not be allowed to assist staff with the event, and staff from other ACC facilities would no longer be available to assist. With these challenges in mind, the Committee came up with the great idea to do a lunch delivery instead of a pick-up.
Gene Kato joined other staff and volunteers to pack 150 lunches for door-to-door delivery.
With the help of the Volunteer Development Committee, ACC Rides and ACC management staff, in two short weeks a plan was developed to have 15 volunteer and staff drivers deliver all 150 or more lunches to our volunteers all over Sacramento County. It was a rewarding experience for all of us involved with the event, and the feedback from our volunteers was overwhelmingly positive. We are hopeful we’ll be able to show our appreciation for all our volunteers again in the near future, and we miss all of them very much!
ACC President and CEO Darrick Lam delivers lunch to Board member Titus Toyama in appreciation for his service.
ACC provides a safe environment for residients to socialize and stay connected with their loved ones. Thanks to our activities staff — Debbie Williams and Zyra Bonita at the Care Center, Brittany Yamada at ACC Greenhaven Terrace, and Liana Ma at ACC Maple Tree Village — residents have something to look forward to everyday. They arrange window visits, drive-by visits, and FaceTime and Zoom meetings for their residents. MTV even takes residents on scenic rides throughout Sacramento with their shuttle, everyone socially distanced of course.
On August 28, ACC families participated in a noisy and fun “Honk for Hugs” car parade. They met at Revere Court and drove past ACC Care Center, ACC Greenhaven Terrace, and ACC Maple Tree Village. Residents sat outside and gave them a heroes welcome.
Overall, the pandemic has fostered a deeper sense of love and connection among residents, their families and the staff as they explore new ways to connect.
ACC has made tremendous use of Zoom, an online video service, to stay connected with its volunteers and other community stakeholders. ACC holds board meetings, committee meetings, and town halls, all on Zoom.
Sometimes these meetings offer refreshing glimpses of the people we only see at the office. At home, they are more relaxed. Family members and pets will make a cameo apprearance, to everyone’s delight.
The pandemic will eventually come to pass. In the meantime, ACC is discovering new ways to connect so families and friends can be closer even at a distance.
As the COVID-19 pandemic grips our community, our thoughts and support are with those on the front lines fighting the outbreak. Doctors and nurses deserve recognition for their important work in this global health crisis, and rightfully so. But there is another group, less visible, that engages in trench warfare with more ordinary weapons. These are the housekeeping staff of ACC Care Center.
Don’t let their friendly demeanor fool you. They are on a serious mission to save lives and at great risk to themselves. Armed with an arsenal of cleaning supplies including powerful disinfectants, they sanitize equipment, furniture, floors, and other surfaces throughout the Care Center for the protection of residents and staff. Every day is game on, and they are very proud of what they do. “We are the Virus Busters of ACC,” says May Lyn Hallberg. The others respond with a laugh.
Says Evangeline Grande, “We are here to get rid of the virus. We go in and clean as many times as possible. We take out trash and sanitize everything, the toilets, the bathroom, everything must be sanitized.”
Sumintra Devi joined ACC Care Center in 1999 and has been there the longest. “I have never seen anything like this before,” she says referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, “But we are a team and we are ready.” Sumintra also says that everyone at ACC Care Center is friendly and like a family to her.
Hiyasmin Valenzuela is honest with her feelings, “Multiple times in a day, we clean, wipe all surfaces for fear of catching the virus. I do not want to bring it home to my family.” The others share her feelings. They describe the precautions they take when they get home regarding the removal of shoes and clothing.
Our dedicated housekeeping staff is trained on proper cleaning procedures to ensure safe and correct application of disinfectants. Our stellar performers conduct terminal cleaning, an intense disinfecting procedure that involves disinfecting entire resident and staff areas. We use EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) registered disinfectants against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). According to CDC, coronavirus may remain viable for hours to days on surfaces made from a variety of materials. It is incumbent upon us to have robust cleaning procedures to eradicate the virus from our building.
Administrator Tamara Kario says “ACC Care Center is COVID-free in large part due to the housekeepers.”
At the start of the pandemic, medical personal protective equipment (PPE) was in short supply. ACC sent a letter to volunteers requesting homemade cloth face masks for staff. People responded to the call in different ways.
Multiple people donated fabric. Audrey gave us a large bag of fabric, enough for hundreds of masks, that she had purchased for quilting. Several of our volunteers contacted their personal networks to ask for masks. Helen Yee is famous for organizing pickleball players; she sent the call to her friends, who responded in a big way. One group, The Masketeers, led by Nancy Floyd, made 300+ masks. They cut, ironed, pinned, made ties (because there was no elastic) and had a social distancing assembly system worked out. Sally made masks, too, and Jeannie ordered 100 surgical masks, which got held up for weeks in a postal center. More than 2 months after ordering, she delivered them to ACC Care Center.
Stephanie made 150+ masks. Her husband, Tim, who works for Instacart, would pick up fabric and elastic and return with bags of masks. Stephanie called herself a beginning sewer but became so proficient that she started selling masks via social media.
Frances Lee, one of ACC’s founders (she says if she wasn’t here on Day 1, she was here on Day 2), made more than 40 masks. Many of you will remember that Frances and her late husband, Wil, were a major part of ACC Bingo for decades. Frances’ masks included batik, floral, and you guessed, bingo fabric! Gee made 100 masks from Audrey’s and Jeri’s fabric. Years ago, Gee’s aunty would salvage scraps thrown away at the San Francisco sweatshop where she worked. Gee was one of the few who had a large supply of elastic, a legacy from her aunty.
Angela gave us our first Hello Kitty Masks. Bev, who was featured in another story on mask makers by the Bee, gave us Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Raiders masks, among others. Her husband, Ernie, was one of our very first ACC Rides volunteers, way back in the early 2000s.
ACC Board members answered the call. Betty found the holy grail- a large spool of elastic! She donated fabric and sewed 75+ masks. Linda also donated fabric and other notions, and Jean and Tim donated masks. Tim’s masks included Batman fabric, reminding us that not all superheroes wear masks. Some help sew them. Kristen from Portland mailed us a box with Pokemon, Superman, Marvel, Hawaiian, bowling, and Japanese fabric masks, something for everyone. She also enclosed this note, “To all the folks at ACC: We wish you safe and easy days during this challenging time. Wear these masks with love from our family. Thank you for all the hard work and dedication to keeping up spirits and remaining healthy.”
Jean made 55 masks; she used Hawaiian print and ladybug fabric that was donated by Betty. One day Jean dropped off some masks, and even brought lunch for some of the staff! Like other mask makers, Janet experimented with styles, different fabrics, and types of ties. She ripped up her old t-shirts to make ties. She stopped making masks for a while, and then picked it up again, because “it gave her something else to do.”
ACC Care Center staff Marissa made “ninja” masks, so did Patty (who was the administrator at the “Asian Community Nursing Home” many years ago) and Dr. Jeanette Okazaki. Dr. Jeanette made different styles of masks, so people could choose their favorite style.
We originally asked for 500 masks. Depending upon location and whether or not they do direct resident care or are in close contact (e.g. ACC Rides drivers) with residents or clients, staff wear N-95 masks, surgical masks, and/or cloth masks or a combination. We learned that a mask is usually good for 4-5 hours of wear. That means, for example, that our staff should use 2 masks each workday. We increased the number of masks for staff, so they didn’t have to constantly wash and air dry (to save the elastic).
Over 50 people created 1,700 cloth masks for us! But wait, there’s more! On May 7, ACC’s Big Day of Giving, APAPA founder CC Yin donated 4,000 surgical masks!
The overwhelming response means that in addition to the staff, all ACC Care Center, Maple Tree Village, and Greenhaven Terrace residents all received masks. Sometimes, we see Greenhaven Terrace residents sitting on our bench in front of our main building, social distancing and wearing masks.
We also had donations of surgical masks and face shields. Volunteers used their 3-D printers to create face shields and other materials for us. THANK YOU to everyone who donated their fabric, elastic, time, and talent to the ACC Mask Project. We are safer and our residents and clients are safer, because of you!
I have been a volunteer with ACC for as long as I can remember. I’m talking before there was even a Nursing Home/Care Center.
I attribute my volunteering to my parents, Wil and Frances Lee. They got involved when ACC was a small grassroots organization. Actually, it was my mom that got involved with some of her friends like Gloria Imagire and my dad just went along with it. I remember going to the Tambara house across from Southside Park where there was always something going on. The only staff we had were Joyce Sakai and Donna Owfook. I worked on my school stuff while my mom did her thing.
Early on, there was a need for an Asian Nursing Home and they were trying to raise money to get one built for our seniors. A nursing home that served familiar food and spoke the same languages. I can remember one of the first fundraisers was an Asian art sale at the CalPERS Building downtown. The trees in the building had little white lights, the art was hung or displayed with care and individuals walked away with their purchased beautiful pieces of art. We served refreshments and it was a fun affair.
In the 1980’s, to my family’s surprise, my mother volunteered to be the ACC BINGO Manager. We never imagined she would spend over 25,000 volunteer hours. Initially, we had three sessions every week. With my parents being gone so much, one of the ways to see them was to volunteer. My mother was usually in the money room and my dad was on the floor. There were 25 to 30 volunteers each session, so we got to know each other, as well as the 200 BINGO players and had a great time. We became another sort of family.
Eventually, I got a real job with the State of California, Department of the Youth Authority, as a Youth Counselor. I relocated to El Centro, CA, in the midst of planning our wedding to my husband, Tony Lewis, who was in law school, and we were busy. After a couple of years, I was able to transfer to Stockton, CA to one of our facilities and in 1987 had my twins, Ashlee and Brandon. We were busy for a few years, but I went back to BINGO in 1989. Many of the same volunteers were still there with several new additions.
In the past 40 plus years, I have seen the tremendous growth of ACC and met several volunteers and staff that have become my lifelong friends. My Dad passed away in 1999, but before he died, he and Chewy Ito worked hard on the purchase of the Park City property, the first expansion for ACC.
After Donna Yee became our CEO, ACC grew! We acquired Greenhaven Terrace Independent Living and later expanded to Assisted Living, we gained the Merryhill property, our current Administration Building and the fabulous Maple Tree Village. I learned from Donna to allow seniors to grow old with dignity and grace! In the future, I believe all these will continue and I’m sure we will keep growing in response to the needs of our seniors.
Both my parents had been on the ACC Board, so I too joined the Board around 2007 or 2008 and served two terms. I continue to serve on the Greenhaven Terrace, Crab Feed, Fund Development, Volunteer Development, Maple Tree Village Ad Hoc and Care Center Fundraiser Committees. I also volunteer as a server for Meals on Wheels at the Sacramento Japanese United Methodist Church Tanoshimi Kai one or two times a month. If there is a celebration or a party, I am glad to help! We’ve learned that each volunteer has a gift and is good at something. If we band together and each uses their special gift, we can get things done!
We all have the same goal in mind, which is to help our seniors and community. I would never have met some of these people without ACC and although I hate to admit it, we’re all getting older, but we are vital and passionate. We will use the programs offered, be a volunteer, be an instructor, live at Greenhaven Terrace, Maple Tree Village or the Care Center.
Nursing homes across the country are taking extra precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic. ACC Care Center is no different, implementing mandatory face masks for staff members, temperature screenings, limited group social activities, restricted visitations, and cancellations of in-person volunteer programs. ACC Care Center residents are, without a doubt, physically safer because of these measures. However, it is just as important to ensure ACC Care Center residents experience a healthy and supportive social community.
Social Undistancing
ACC Care Center has partnered with volunteers from Stanford University in an initiative called Virtual Park Bench. From the early weeks of the pandemic, Virtual Park Bench has organized 1-1 video calls between Stanford students and nursing homes in Sacramento, Santa Rosa, San Jose, and Fremont.
Volunteers Teresia Chen and Jonathan Mak host weekly conversations in Mandarin and Cantonese for residents of ACC Care Center.One of these residents is Ms. Guangzhen Lin, originally from China. Each Tuesday, Ms. Lin speaks in Mandarin with Teresia, a pre-med student. In their most recent session, Ms. Lin and Teresia connected on a variety of topics.
Teresia Chen types her messages in Chinese to Mr. Teh Ou who is hard of hearing. He writes his messages on a small white board.
“The pandemic has grown beyond what anyone expected,” Ms. Lin said in Mandarin. Ms. Lin confided with Teresia about her concerns of the pandemic that started in her home country, but was also reminded of her fondest memories growing up in China. Almost instinctively, Ms. Lin began singing a few lines from a song from her childhood. After thirty minutes of stories, singing, and the occasional thoughtful silence, Ms. Lin was caught by surprise when time was up. “You better be back next week!” Ms. Lin says playfully to Teresia.
From the start of the pandemic, the gregarious Ms. Lin had grown increasingly lonesome. Even though Ms. Lin had frequent phone and Skype calls with her family, she yearned for additional and varied social interactions. Virtual video calls have allowed Ms. Lin to experience this. “Although I cannot read Ms. Lin’s mind, I’ve noticed how uplifting these conversations are for her: smiles, laughs, reminiscing past history with shared interests and opinions,” says Teresia after her video call with Ms. Lin.
Zyra Bonita and Kaley Wong move residents in and out of the Skype sessions. Mr. Teh Ou didn’t want to leave.
Similarly, ACC Care Center Activity Assistant Zyra Bonita noticed the positive impact of the video calls for another resident, Mr. Teh Ou. “It’s just great to see Mr. Teh Ou’s transformation. I remember before we started the video calls, Mr. Teh Ou was very reserved, and this was only worsened by the pandemic.He was skeptical and not fully engaged. I thanked the volunteer for having the patience to continue the conversation, but honestly I did not think Mr. Teh Ou had a good time. I was surprised when he asked when the next video call was. The simple act of having a 20-something year old check in on him has brought a new energy to him.” Mr. Teh Oh is more active and engaged during the days now.”
Not only are residents appreciative of the program, so are volunteers. “As someone who strives to work towards a career in medicine, since shadowing and in-hospital volunteering are all suspended, these alternative forms of care such as keeping senior residents company are wholesome experiences, that I can still contribute to the best of my ability,” says Teresia. She hopes that the opportunity will continue to heal these residents emotionally and psychologically and encourage other long-term care facilities to participate as well.
Jonathan Mak is studying for his Masters degree in engineering at Stanford University.
Volunteer Jonathan Mak says, “I’ve been able to converse with residents in their native language and address unmet needs for them that they may be hesitant to convey to others, since oftentimes English is not their primary language. We’re able to connect not only on a cultural level, but also share generations worth of knowledge with each other in a time where crisis dominates media talk and it can be very easy to feel isolated amidst the social distancing.”
Jonathan has also been hosting weekly video calls with Cantonese resident Ms. Oi Yeung. During these unprecedented times, Virtual Park Bench video calls have become a consistent part of the social life for participating residents. It is something that nursing home residents look forward to. Especially for residents who speak limited English, the video calls are refreshing outlets for residents to connect on a deeper level.
As far as plans after the pandemic subsides, Virtual Park Bench founder Dan Guo is excited to keep the program going. “By now, Ms. Lin, Mr. Teh Ou, and other residents have formed long-term, if not life-long, relationships with the volunteers. I’d love to see these relationships continue to blossom.”
(Debbie Williams is the Activity Director of ACC Care Center. Dan Guo is the founder of Virtual Park Bench. For more information, visit virtualparkbench.org.)
Gary Wiemer has two PhDs from U.C. Berkeley, one in East Asian Studies and the other in Psychology. He was also the general manager of the Sheraton Hotel just outside of Chicago for 20 years. He managed 300 employees. No small job.
When presidents and other VIPs came to town, Gary was the point man. “I got to know Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter,” he says while holding up photos they signed for him. “They stayed at the Sheraton whenever they were in Chicago.”
Gary recounts the time he was asked to stand with Ted Kennedy at a wedding, in which the senator was the best man.
Gary and his wife Sue with First Lady Rosalynn Carter
It was also at the Sheraton where Gary met his wife Sue who was born in Japan. She worked in marketing. Her clients were mostly Japanese business people.
After retiring, Gary and Sue moved to the Bay Area to complete his second PhD in psychology. He performed clinical work, which he found very satisfying.
But in the mid 90s, Sue was diagnosed with cancer. She also had respiratory problems, which she felt was made worse by the salty air in the Bay Area. The couple decided to move to Sacramento.
Virginia Wieneke became good friends with Gary’s wife, Sue.
Before long, Sue discovered ACC and became good friends with Virginia Wieneke who was just starting up ACC’s transportation program, ACC Rides. Sue became a volunteer in ACC’s then day respite program. Says Gary, “Being with other people was the best medicine for Sue’s condition. Sue worked with Anna Su and the two became very close.”
Eventually, Sue passed away. Gary and Sue didn’t have children, so there was no one he could rely on for support. Gary became withdrawn and isolated. It was a very different life for someone who was in the people business his entire career.
Gary decided he was not going to live the rest of his life alone. He reached out to Virginia for help. She introduced him to ACC’s social worker Soojin Yoo and to other services in ACC Programs. Gary now participates in Senior Yoga, Easy Tai Chi, Senior Workout, and other activities at ACC.
“I live alone, but when I come here, I’m a different person,” says Gary.
ACC has changed Gary’s life. He says, “You get involved in the programs and classes and you develop a relationship with people. You’re doing something together which is for your benefit. I live alone, but when I come here, I’m a different person. The connection with others with others so fulfilling. There’s a lot of empathy and happiness here.”
Eighty five former volunteers of ACC Bingo met at ACC Greenhaven Terrace for a reunion. The attendees traded stories, shared memorabilia, and played five games of bingo to rekindle the memory of days gone by. Pictures of the young Glenn Watanabe and George Kashiwagi were set out on a table with other great photos of that era.
Donna Toyama
ACC Bingo ran for 22 years. It funded the construction of ACC’s nursing home. It created a grass roots culture that attracted hundreds of people from all generations who were passionate about helping the nascent ACC. The operation started in 1983 at Mayhew Bingo Center while ACC still operated out of the Tambara House on 6th and V Streets.
Frances Lee was on the ACC Board at the time. She recalls, “I knew nothing about running a bingo session. Our landlord brought a bingo consultant from Los Angeles who came to get us started. He sold us supplies, gave us training and tips and attended our monthly manager meetings. It took 20-22 volunteers to fill all the positions at each session. Most of the volunteers had no bingo experience.”
Kim Fujiwara passes out bingo cards.
But it all worked out. ACC Bingo raised enough money to build a nursing home. It also gave rise to a legion of supporters who would later become ACC Board members, committee chairs, donors, and volunteer right up to today. These can-do volunteers powered ACC through decades of growth and prosperity.
Winston Ashizawa, Chewy Ito, and Donna Yee
ACC went on to purchased the Park City building for ACC operations and Meals on Wheels by ACC, Greenhaven Terrace for independent living and assisted living, and Merryhill School which houses today’s ACC Administration and ACC Programs. Maple Tree Village for assisted living and memory care will open in early 2020.
The can-do bingo volunteers powered ACC through decades of growth and prosperity
Bingo was a golden era in ACC history. Thank you Frances Lee, Gloria Imagire, and Kim Fujiwara for organizing the reunion and taking us on this fabulous walk down memory lane!
From Frances Lee’s Opening Remarks
Frances Lee
“You may have been a floor manager, caller, worked in the money room, box office cashier, worked at the sales table selling paper or supplies, pull tab bar manager, pull tab monitor, pull tab sorter or floor monitor. We needed all of you to run each session. Some of you worked once a week, twice a week, every other week or as your schedule permitted. Thanks to Mickey Yamadera who called many volunteers every day. I’m sure you remember getting a call from Mickey. She is here today.”
“Thank you for coming to the reunion today.
Many of our bingo volunteers have passed
away or are living in care facilities. Some you
are still volunteering at ACC and I commend
you for your dedication and support. Always
remember that through the many volunteer
hours you gave to ACC Bingo, ACC has been
able to complete so many more projects for the
community. Bingo was just the beginning.”
It’s
Monday afternoon in mid-November. The residents at ACC Care Center are waiting
eagerly in the lobby for a celebrity to arrive. It’s pretty quiet except for
the sound of resident Gloria playing “You Are My Sunshine” on her harmonica.
It’s a very fitting song for what happens next.
Just as
the song ends, the main entrance doors slide open. The four-legged guest has
arrived. It’s Sadie, a 35”, buckskin, mini-horse. She casually scans the scene
and begins her runway walk with almost human grace. Yes, an actual horse has
entered the building!
The faces
of the residents light up right away. A few residients start clapping. The
commotion gets louder. “That’s a horse, a small horse!” someone exclaims.
Sadie
belongs to Estella Hoskins, who is affiliated with Pet Partners Therapy Animal
Program. After working as a counselor for 30 years, Estella is now a certified
and registered handler. She and her partner Michelle Blanche take Sadie to
hospitals, schools, and recovery centers for people with traumatic brain
injuries.
“Sadie
takes away peoples’ anxiety and stress. It’s amazing to see what her gentleness
and quietness does for them,” says Estella. “We’ve had people just start
sobbing because it brings back memories from their childhood.”
Estella
and Michelle take Sadie to meet each ACC resident, allowing them to pet her,
talk to her, and brush her hair. The handlers are just as calm and caring as
Sadie.
Sadie
tilts her ears forward when a resident starts talking to her. “When she does
that, it means she’s paying attention,” says Estella.
Equine
therapy is a form of therapy that makes use of horses to help promote emotional
growth. Horses behave like human beings and can respond immediately, giving
feedback, and mirroring emotions. They
can help people with ADD, anxiety, autism, dementia, delayed mental
development, Down syndrome, and depression.
“Our
residents are just overjoyed,” says ACC Activities Director Debbie Williams.
“Sadie brings so much love and compassion.”
For more information about Sadie and Pet
Partners visit their websites teamsadie.com and PetPartners.org.
Vicki
Beaton has lived at ACC Greenhaven Terrace Independent Living for four years.
News clippings and magazine articles about her are strewn throughout her
apartment. She pushes them aside and reaches for a pile of books, “Here’s a
book of short stories I wrote,” she says matter of factly. “I also wrote these
romance novels.” There are four or five of them.
On the
wall are photos of her with Jackie Chan, Gavin Newsom, and Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s
granddaughter whom she accompanied to Vancouver in 2015. Another photo shows
Dr. Henry Lee of OJ fame eating pasta at her house. Then there’s the table
cloth that her neighbor, March Fong Eu, gave her and the prestigious 2019
Directors Award she received from the California State Railroad Museum, still
wrapped in plastic. It’s hard to connect all the dots.
Vicki’s ID card from the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Command
Vicki
Beaton was born Tsui Yi-Wen in Tianjin, China. She and her family fled to
Taiwan when the Communists came to power. She went to work as a secretary for
the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Command in the 1960s.
Vicki’s
boss was a colonel and intelligence officer in the United States Air Force. It
was a very tense time in U.S.-China relations.
“My first
husband was Austin Shen,” says Vicki. “He was a very nice man but died when he
was only 39. I was 34. He left me with three children.”
To make
extra money, Vicki wrote short stories for China Daily News, Central News, and
United Daily. She had a curious mind and a dynamic way of talking about
everyday life. It certainly reflected in her personality.
This,
among other things, caught the eye of her boss, the colonel. Long story short,
Colonel Clifford Merrill Beaton fell in love with Vicki, he proposed, she said
yes, and they tied the knot. After his deployment ended, Clifford, Vicki and
the three children, two boys and one girl, moved to Omaha, Nebraska.
Vicki wrote hundreds of stories about America Life. She was like a Chinese Mark Twain.
Vicki was
immediately cold and bored in Omaha. “Good beef, good corn, so what!” she
exclaimed. As a freelancer, Vicki continued to write about her American
experiences to the delight of her readers in Taiwan.
Clifford
retired two years later. He asked Vicki where she wanted to move. She pleaded,
“Some place warmer!” One of Clifford’s former deputies recently retired at
Mather Air Force Base. Clifford arranged a trip to visit his old friend and
check out Sacramento.
“I still
remember driving down Capitol Mall in early summer. It just rained and
everything was green and beautiful. I told Clifford this is it, we’re staying!”
Clifford
got a job a Bank of America, while Vicki worked for Sacramento Unified School
District as a substitute secretary and later as a teaching assistant at Will C.
Wood Jr. High.
Back at
the District’s office on N Street, Vicki met Eleanor Yin Chiang, PhD. The two
bonded. They were both born in China and were the only Chinese-speaking
employees in the building. “We went for long walks, sang karaoke, and became
best friends,” says Vicki.
With fellow docents at the California State Railroad Museum
They had a
mutual interest helping Chinese people like themselves succeed in America.
Together they founded Sacramento Chinese Service Center and Chinese New Year
Culture Association. They were also early supporters of Sacramento Chinese
Culture Foundation.
Vicki said
Eleanor changed her life because she built up her confidence. “I learned how to
talk to higher-ups and to carry myself even to the point where some people
thought I was the PhD, not Eleanor!” Vicki says laughing.
One day,
Vicki’s Taiwanese publishers asked her to write some articles for their U.S.
newspaper The World Journal. It was a temporary assignment that turned into a
15-year run as their West Coast reporter.
Vicki was like a Chinese Mark Twain, chronicling life in the U.S. to the
delight of Chinese readers everywhere. The State Capitol was part of her beat.
She covered Arnold Schwarzenegger and visiting VIPs like John McCain and George
Bush. She also interviewed Yo Yo Ma.
One of
Vicki’s favorite articles is “Ai Wo, Ai Jia, Ai Wo Guo” (Love Me, Love My
Family, Love My Country). She describes how her husband Clifford Beaton
unconditionally loved everything about her despite their vast cultural
differences. They were happily married for 38 years before his passing 11 years
ago.
Volunteering at ACC’s Welcome Center
Vicki also
wrote a glowing story about living in Sacramento “Wo Zhu Xia Jia Men Du.” Then
one day she met a stranger, a Chinese man. He and his family took the train all
the way from New York to Sacramento to settle down. She asked him how he heard
about Sacramento. He said it was from an article written by Tsui Yi-Wen. “I
told him, that’s me!” says Vicki. “I couldn’t believe it!”
In the
1980s, Eleanor introduced Vicki to her brother C.C. Yin who just had bought his
first McDonald’s franchise. C.C. and Vicki would go on to collaborate on
several community organizations and causes even to this day. In 2001, C.C.
founded Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (APAPA).
Vicki was a founding member.
In the
same year, Vicki was the president of Sacramento Chinese Culture Foundation.
She collaborated with Professor Peter Leung from UC Davis and Dr. Alex Yeh to
publish the 270-page book, “150 Years of the Chinese Presence in California.”
This was the seminal book that influenced her and others to continue studying
and promoting the contributions of Chinese in America. Vicki had already been
writing articles about Chinese in America for World Journal but not always
about their contributions to American society. Now she was all in.
In 2007,
Vicki wrote about the life and times of the Chinese railroad workers and their
contributions to the Transcontinental Railroad. In 2017, she became a docent at
the California State Railroad Museum and its only Chinese speaker.
Vicki inspired C.C. Yin and their friend Margaret Wong to establish the US-China Railroad Friendship Association (USCRFA) with Ms. Zhang Wei from UC Davis as its then and current president. On October 26, 2019, USCRFA organized “The Last Mile,” a celebration of the contributions of Chinese railroad workers on the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.
Long-time collaborators C.C. Yin and Vicki Beaton have a lively conversation at the California Chinese American Day on October 23, 2019, at the State Capitol.
Today
Vicki shows no signs of slowing down. In addition to her civic activities, she
volunteers at ACC’s Welcome Center. She also translated ACC’s 40-page
Caregivers Resource Guide into Chinese.
Vicki is happy living at ACC Greenhaven Terrace. When asked how she decided to move there, she said, “I’ve written several stories about ACC and Donna Yee over the years. I guess you could say I did my research.”
