April 23, 2008
April 23, 2008 - Spanish Hills Country Club, Camarillo
On April 23, 2008, the Ventura County Asian American Bar Association hosted its third annual Installation and Scholarship Awards Banquet. The event featured Stewart Kwoh, founder and director of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California (APALC). Mr. Kwoh spoke about the mission of APALC, which is to increase access to legal services and education for the poor, protect and advance the civil rights of the diverse Asian Pacific American (APA) community, and improve intergroup relations. In particular, Mr. Kwoh mentioned the Victor Chen and Thai garment worker cases which have proven inspirational to many in supporting the cause of APALC. The speech was very well received, and VCAABA is deeply grateful to Mr. Kwoh for using his time to appear at this event.
The officers and board of VCAABA were installed at this event. These include:
2008-2009 Officers:
Brian Nomi, President.
Leeton Lee, Vice-President.
Kathy Luong, Secretary. (Absent)
Mark Fang, Treasurer.
2008-2009 Board:
Dien Le, Leah Gasendo, Lillian Jiang, William Short, Christine Nguyen, John Fukasawa, Sim Paradis, Julie Lin, who were present. Absent board members include Grace Esnardo Mitch Noda, Carmen Ramirez, Tina Rasnow.
The 2008 VCAABA Scholarship in the amount of $2,000 was awarded to Angela Buendia. Ms. Buendia is a 3rd year law student at the Southern California Institute of Law in Ventura. Ms. Buendia is a single mother, who has worked hard to further her education since coming to the United States from the Philippines 11 years ago. She plans to work in the field of immigration law.
At the end of the event, door prizes were awarded to several attendees. VCAABA thanks the following for their support of this event: Cal Oaks Bank, Law Offices of Mark Fang, Law Office of Brian Nomi, Leeton & Stephanie Lee, and UBS Investments. Also, Chinese watercolor artist Christine Leong displayed her works, several of which sold. Twenty percent of the proceeds of Ms. Leong’s work will go to fund future VCAABA scholarships.
Thirty-eight members of the community attended this event at the Spanish Hills Country Club. The location was lovely, and the food was excellent.
Mark Fang gives Speaker Kwoh gift
Stewart Kwoh speaking
Installation of the Board
Julie Lin and Cynthia Loo
Artist Christine Leong
Bill Short presenting Angela Buendia with her Scholarship Award
Brian Nomi, Leeton Lee & Stewart Kwoh
Sim Tang-Paradis & others from Cal Oaks Bank
Angela, Paul Estuar, Leah, Brian & Collin
Leah Gasendo, Hon. Cynthia Loo, Julie Lin & Lilian Jiang
John Fukasawa, Robert Nishida, Leah Gasendo, Stephie Takeuchi
Bill Short, Christine Nguyen & fiance
Angela Buendia & Collin, Dennis Mukai & Hon. Jasmine Mukai
Gene Lee & fiance
Christine Leong + husband, & John Fukasawa
Tony, Albert Cho & Mark Sullivan