Highlights and Hopes
This year has been unlike any other — the challenges brought on by the pandemic has tested all of us in many ways, but together, we continue to be resilient. We extend our deepest appreciation to our supporters. Nikkei Place would not be here to serve the community without your help and generosity. We share with you highlights from the year from each Nikkei Place charity, and our hopes for the coming year ahead.
Our organizations have been proactively responding to COVID-19 by adapting our operations so that we can continue to serve our community while keeping staff, volunteers, residents, seniors, and visitors safe.
NIKKEI NATIONAL MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTRE
Since gradually reopening the Centre under new health and safety regulations in early June, the NNMCC faces new operational challenges, as our regular lifelines of revenue from venue rentals, fundraising events, and public, school and recreational programs are significantly affected. We have worked diligently to reduce expenses and optimize government and foundation grants. In anticipation of further risk of closure throughout the winter, we launched our Resilience Fundraiser to help raise essential operational funds for this year.
Amid these challenges, we have been able to offer limited but continued in-person programming, and more virtual events and resources than ever before. In the summer, we reimagined our annual Nikkei Matsuri festival into a multi-week small Japanese cultural marketplace. In September, the museum team livestreamed the opening of the BROKEN PROMISES exhibit, which explores the dispossession of Japanese Canadians in the 1940s. This year we also marked the 20th anniversary of the NNMCC which we commemorated through a ceremonial tree planting with the Vancouver Japanese Gardeners’ Association.
NIKKEI SENIORS HEALTH CARE & HOUSING SOCIETY
The NSHCHS responded quickly to COVID-19 by implementing an Infection Prevention Plan, closing to the public, and increasing PPE usage and sanitization across Nimi Nikkei Home and New Sakura-so. The pandemic changed the ways we facilitate everything from meals to activities and programs, and the daily life of our residents. We have been incredibly effective in keeping our seniors and staff safe, with no outbreaks to date.
To combat isolation, we started a ‘Send Letters to Seniors’ initiative, and have received many heartwarming letters and drawings from kids in the community. We also launched new activities including social visits via Zoom and small group crafts like knitting. As we continue to face many challenges, we have been able to persevere thanks to the generosity, support and kindness of our community. Our residents and staff have been on the receiving end of many gifts like masks, hand sanitizers, flowers, and meals for staff that have lifted their spirits. We look ahead now with new leadership from Jay Haraga, as Cathy Makihara retires as Executive Director after 25 years of dedicated service. We feel hopeful for better times ahead, as we continue to navigate these uncertain times.
NIKKEI PLACE FOUNDATION
The NPF remains operational, with staff now working remotely. We thank everyone for their patience as we adjust to new operational processes. In June, the Foundation was deeply impacted by the sudden passing of our founding Board President Robert Banno. We honour his decades of support, leadership, and philanthropy to Nikkei Place with a donor tile on our Legacy Giving Wall. This will be on display at Nikkei Centre in 2021. In September, the Foundation made its annual disbursements to both the NNMCC and NSHCHS, with hopes that our annual giving will increase in the upcoming year. Highlights from the 2019 fiscal year have been published in our annual report, now available here. As we pivot online now more than ever, we have expanded the availability of resources on our website which includes new Tribute Pages that allow you to dedicate a gift to Nikkei Place in honour or in memory of a loved one.
We recognize that this has been a difficult and challenging year and we continue to work towards serving you and the community as best we can. We would like to learn more about our supporters and your thoughts about the future. Please consider answering our short online survey at your convenience here. You can also request a hardcopy by contacting us.
As the year comes to a close, please consider making a year-end gift to Nikkei Place, to help us persevere through COVID-19. Donate online or find out how to make an offline donation here.
If you have already made your year-end gift, we thank you. We also appreciate all of you for your kind words, cooperation and commitment to stay healthy.
Sincerely,
Nikkei Place Executive Directors
Naomi Kawamura
Nikkei Place Foundation
Karah Goshinmon-Foster
Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre
Cathy Makihara and Jay Haraga
Nikkei Seniors Health Care and Housing Society