35th Anniversary: Warren L. Dale Building Empathy & Respect Annual Awards Benefit
HONORING OUR PAST
A virtual evening to honor the vision that built the foundation of what PCRC is today. As part of this annual event, we celebrate people in the community that are outstanding champions of building empathy and respect. The evening will also highlight some of PCRC’s most beloved supporters and accomplishments from the past 35 years. Join us in celebrating our past as we welcome our future!
Thursday, 19th of May
6:00-7:00 PM (PDT)
MEET OUR SPECIAL GUEST SINGER:
TIANO
ABOUT TIANO:
Tiano was a part of our MANA after-school program and is a former PCRC Youth Scholarship Awardee. He will be singing a song he wrote himself called Family Matters. "I wrote this song in dedication to all my loved ones."
Our special guest singer, Tiano, will be performing at our virtual B.E.R event!
MEET OUR GUEST PERFORMANCE GROUP:
JITEN DAIKO
ABOUT US:
"Jiten Daiko is a young Bay Area Japanese Taiko ensemble. With deep respect for the taiko art form, we strive for artistic excellence in creating an exhilarating musical experience for our audiences. We ground our practice in hard work, collaboration, and a fusion of innovation and tradition. As we continue to grow under our unique training system and draw from both Japanese and American influences, our group aspires to bring a youthful and energizing sound to the stage. Our name Jiten, or "self-powered", is inspired by our core value of consistently supporting each other in order to innovate faster and grow our collective energy."
Jiten Daiko will be performing at our virtual B.E.R event, you don't want to miss this!
OUR BUILDING EMPATHY & RESPECT AWARDEES
Doug Yamamoto, Chair and Steve Okamoto, Vice-Chair of the Tanforan Assembly Center Memorial Committee (TACMC)
As part of this annual event, we honor people in our community who are great champions of building empathy and respect. These people embody the spirit of collaboration and peacemaking and align with PCRC’s mission and vision towards building vibrant communities. With our theme of honoring the past, we wanted to elevate those individuals who have worked tirelessly to bring the past forward and keep it in our memories.
Immediately before the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, a portion of the Tanforan Racetrack was used by the U.S. Navy as a special advance personnel depot for the Western Division Naval Facilities Engineering Command. After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army took control of the site and, in the spring of 1941, they converted the 118-acre Tanforan Racetrack into one of 17 temporary detention camps established to hold Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed from the West Coast
Steve Okamoto was a former detainee and was just five weeks old when he arrived at the racetrack on April 30th, 1942. There are very few (less than 20) Japanese Americans still alive from the internment at Tanforan, and Steve is one of them.
Doug Yamamoto and Steve Okamoto have been at the forefront of the Tanforan Memorial Project. They have worked extremely hard since 2012 to educate communities and memorialize the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during the internment at the Tanforan Racetrack (1942). The memorial is here in San Mateo County (San Bruno), and the Vice-Chair is a resident of Foster City. Relevant to the recent attacks on Asian Americans during COVID, and our effort to bring a deeper understanding of people’s differences and build empathy and respect, Doug and Steve are worthy recipients of the BER Award for their relentless effort to bring this vital knowledge to all. They represent the 8,000 Japanese whose lives were impacted forever at Tanforan.
OUR SENIOR SCHOLARSHIP B.E.R AWARDEES
Lupe Haamoa Tofavaha
& Hobson Tokemoana Tupou
