Japan Society of Fairfield County
Annual Meeting 2009
Sunday October 25, 2009
New officers and
directors were elected to
serve one year terms and are listed on the organization
page.
Harry Sakamaki briefly described the historic
nature of the barn in
which the meeting was being held at Bush Holley House in Greenwich and
how it had, in the late 19th
century, served as the summer location of an impressionist school
of art which included one of the first Japanese artists, Yeto Genjiro,
to work in America. He then called upon
Russell Handleman, the Society’s Treasurer, to report on the
financial
condition of the Society. Mr. Handleman proceeded to report that that
the Society ended 2009 in
better condition than 2008. He noted that although membership dues were
down 11%, primarily due to fewer patronage memberships the special
events featured by the Society over the year had done better
financially and communication costs had been reduced some 80% through
reliance on internet communications rather than the mail. The net
result is that bank balances are up 28% over the beginning of the year
in spite of the introduction of new events. Accordingly, he
concluded, there is no need to increase membership fees this coming
year. Finally, he noted that this would be his final report as
Treasurer, a post he filled for more than a decade. He plans to remain
active in the Society; particularly in
conjunction with JSFC movie program he does with the Kleinman's. Vernon
Beck noted that the first recipient of the Uezumi Award had been
selected and the award will be presented at our Oshogatsu event in
January. Dr.
Beck also discussed the sad fate
of the Nojima Cherry Trees in Stamford.
We thank our members for their
contributions to our pot luck luncheon: Reiko & Nicky Achiwa-
wine and Japanese vegitable stew; Nancy & Vernon
Beck-cashunuts cake; Tomoko Dougan-crape cake; Atsuko
Giampaoli-california rolls and futomaki; Vicky Hackman-salad; Kazuki
& Keiji Inoue-pumpkin spice cake; Howard Jaffe-champaign and wine;
Yoko & Takaya Kurimoto-meatloaf; Kaori O'Brine-cookies; Hiroko
& Harry Sakamaki- sake and chiken stew; Nina Syreitfeld-california
rolls; Junko Uezumi-red bean rice; Naomi & Joe Manning-salmon mixed
sushi and strawberries.
After the meeting we did some origami and unit
origami and watched a video presentation of Rakugo, Japanese style
comedy, of a person trying to short change the noodle man.
The membership year is now the same as the
calendar year. Please keep
your dues paid up so we don't have to charge you the non-member rate.
If you did not receive an email notice for the annual meeting, please
send us your email. It will help insure that
you receive priority notification and reservation rights for our
events. We currently have emails for approximately 2/3 our
membership. We will be sending out emails to all members when
significant new information is posted on the web site.
We welcome volunteers to help run our
society and serve as future
directors and officers. Involvement now trains one for future
leadership.
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