President:
Nancy Wang
576-0533

Vice President:
Mary Lowe
528-8712 x18

Treasurer:
Shirley Brummell
528-8044

Recording
Secretary:
Judy Cheung
528-0912

Corresponding
Secretary:
Kevin Ablett
538-1938

Newsletter,
Scholarship:
Mirin Lew
545-6173

Social Director:
Mary Lowe
528-8712 x18

Membership:
Judy Cheung

Ways and Means:
We need someone!

Building Committee:
Joe Wang
576-0533

Youth Group:
Mark & Azy Heydon
575-9541

Board Members:
David Chung
Stephanie Chan
Keung Chan
Irene Fong
Jean Gee
Winston Lee
Frances Lok
Shubert Yee
Kay Yee

November 2003

Contents
PRESIDENT's MESSAGE
RECA LANGUAGE CLASSES
RECA YOUTH GROUP
RECA GEARING UP FOR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION ON FEB. 28TH
WIN A YACHT CRUISE ON THE BAY!
ADVERTISE IN RECA’S NEW YEAR BROCHURE
RECA ELECTION OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
RECA AND THE DANCING POETRY FESTIVAL
CONDOLENCES
AFTER SCHOOL DAYCARE AND PRE-SCHOOL CENTER
PHOTOS FROM RECA PICNIC, SEPT. 7
NEWSLETTER SUBMISSIONS
MEMBER ADVERTISEMENTS


PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
By Nancy Wang

Greetings! I hope this newsletter finds all of the readers enjoying health, happiness and good fortune. RECA is ending the year of the horse, 2003, with quiet success on many projects. 

Some of you might have noticed that our front field has recently been mowed, graveled and rolled into a smooth, hard surface. This is to accommodate a portable building, approximately the size of our current center, on the lot. It should be in place in December, and available for storage of items now in our crowded garage and closets by January. We still plan to build our beautiful new center, but until we can, we need more space for our ever-increasing events.

Our list of accomplishments this year is too extensive to list in this short space. Our youth group has provided many services to RECA and our community. The Language Study Groups are continuing to increase in reputation. This year, we have students attending from as far away as Novato. Our Cultural Outreach has visited many schools, organizations, community parades and events, and even has performed at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. Our board has been busy and our building committee has been working non-stop. 

I want to thank every member of every committee, sub-group and individual participant for all of the hard work and diligent service provided throughout this year. Without such a large base of members and officers working together, we could never accomplish the progress we have made. 

In order to continue our success in the coming year, I would like all of the members to think about what you or a family member would like to do and when it can be done at our center. One of the major 

projects of the coming year will be to increase the use of our center for routine activities such as senior social day, Tai Chi Classes, cooking classes, traditional instrument playing classes, and anything else you might want to think of that you are willing to attend on a regularly scheduled basis. Send your requests, suggestions and ideas to me, Nancy Wang, or to Judy Cheung.

To meet other members, see and hear what we have done, listen to our children, youth and adult members perform in a casual setting after a fine meal with a grand array of excellent food, be sure to come to our December 6 Winter Potluck Social, 6:00 PM at the 4-H Center in Rohnert Park (see page 3 for more information). See you there! 

Our language classes have continued this semester with the same enthusiasm we have enjoyed for the past several years. We still have room in some classes, especially beginning children's Mandarin. Our Saturday advanced class and continuing class are filled to over flowing. We have reached the halfway point in our new semester and hope to see a few more new faces in mid-January when our second semester begins.

We are also excited to have 1-5 older adults each week for Functional English as a Second Language. Joining us informally are about a half dozen teens who come for a self-directed study group to do homework together in Chinese. This is one of the many opportunities offered to our active and dynamic RECA Youth Group.

Saturday's Advanced Mandarin Class, taught by Lily Chang, is a popular class of teens and adults, speaking Mandarin and improving language skills, reading and writing abilities.

Cantonese Class, taught by Azy Heydon, has mostly teens, but offers lessons to people of all ages and ability levels. Azy is assisted by Thien Quack to provide both group and individualized lessons.

Beginning Mandarin for Children is an active group of young beginners, lead by Arial Hsui, with the assistance of parents plus Nancy Wang and Judy Cheung. This group sings, makes crafts things, plays games, and learns by having fun.

Tall and short learn side by side in Continuing Mandarin, taught by Hsiu Chuan Armstrong. Saturday Continuing Mandarin remains our most popular class, with enrollment slots at a premium. There is space in Wednesday Continuing Mandarin class, but Saturdays are full, as usual.

RECA YOUTH GROUP
By Azy & Mark Heydon

During the last couple of months, our RECA Youth Group members’ activities have included the cleaning of Santa Rosa Creek and our RECA Center yard, along with several other fun trips and activities. We have now decided to meet regularly on the first Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. Our youths are 12 to 18 years old. They are an enthusiastic group that enjoys getting together with each other as often as possible. They usually play basketball, chat, play computer games, watch a movie, or read Chinese books. Some prepare and learn cooking from Azy, the leader of the youth group. We often sit and eat together. And don’t forget, we welcome new members.

Special thanks goes to the volunteer drivers: Nancy and Joe, Judy Cheung, David Chung, Tien Quock, Crystal Lin, Erin Matsuba, Daren Lok, Harrison, Justin Eggert, and Jennifer Hsieh. We appreciated your participation and help. 

By the way, we need anyone who would like to be our volunteer drivers for our ski trip this winter again. (We had wonderful trips last year). We’re anxious to go again. Please let us know if you can volunteer to drive for the ski trip. 

Upcoming Youth Group events include beach cleaning, S.R. creek cleaning, senior citizen home visit, Saturday school homework support at RECA Center, and planning for a fundraising event. Again, if you are interested in participating in our RECA Youth Group, please call Azy or Bryce at (707) 575-9541.

Mark your calendars for RECA’s 2004 Chinese New Year Celebration! This year we will have some special entertainment. The Red Panda Acrobats will highlight RECA’s Chinese New Year entertainment lineup at our festival on Saturday, February 28 at the Veterans Memorial Building in Santa Rosa. We will also feature local talent by RECA members as well as our popular lion and dragon dance extravaganza. 

Tickets are $20 each for adults and $10 for children under 10 years old. Admission tickets will not be sold at the door. Get your tickets early from any board member (listed on front page of newsletter) or at these following locations beginning in January.

Santa Rosa: G& G Supermarket, Asia Market, Genghis Khan Restaurant
Sebastopol: Holiday Inn Express, G&G Supermarket
Petaluma: Quality Inn 

This crowd-pleasing event is guaranteed to sell out, so get your tickets soon!

That’s the Grand Prize for RECA’s upcoming Chinese New Year celebration on Feb. 28 at the Veterans Building in Santa Rosa. Michael and Patti Sullivan, owners of a fabulous new yacht, are donating a private excursion for 6 persons, sailing from Tiburon to Jack London Square in Oakland, where they (winner and guests) will be feted for lunch. The value of this prize is $1,000. Second prize is two nights at the Atlantis Casino-Resort in Reno. Third prize is a $100 gift certificate to Kyoto Restaurant in Rohnert Park. 

Raffle tickets are $5 each. However, you’ll get a special deal of 3 tickets for $10 if you buy them before our New Year event. We will draw the winning ticket then. Winner need not be present to win. 

Contact Nancy Wang at 576-0533, Mary Lowe at 528-8712 x18, or any other board officer (listed in front of newsletter) for tickets.

Want to let more people know about you and your business? RECA’s Chinese New Year program brochure is a good way! The attractive 8 ½" x 11" brochure features sponsors, advertisers and information about our non-profit organization. It is given out to guests at our annual Chinese New Year event in February and is further distributed to supporters of RECA. The proceeds from this annual fundraiser primarily benefits RECA’s building fund. 

Advertisement costs are: ¼ page for $150; ½ page for $200 and a full page for $300. For more information, please contact Nancy Wang at 576-0533.

We recently had the election for the 2004 RECA Board of Directors. We had an excellent return of ballots. Thank you to all of the members who voted. 

The slate of officers presented was elected. The proposal to amend the by-laws to change the term of office from one year to two years was also approved. Our new Board of Directors for 2004-2005 are: Nancy Wang, president; Mary Lowe, vice president; Judy Cheung, recording secretary, Mark Heydon, corresponding secretary; and David Chung, treasurer.

Congratulations! Our new board will be installed at the annual board dinner. They will take office starting the beginning of January.

With the theater in silent darkness, a lone poet read, "In this world of darkness/ chaos rules the Earth./ Devils dance the blindness of night./ We wait, listen, hope, wonder/ what will bring the light." With a sudden beat of the drum, crash of cymbals, clang of the gong, the answer came as the theater burst into light and two RECA lions ran down the aisles and danced onto the stage. The lions chased away the darkness and consumed the evil so our world could continue and our celebrations could begin.

Needless to say, this was the most spectacular opening in the 10-year history of the Dancing Poetry Festival. 

During the second half of the festival, Phi Phi Dang, center stage, sang The Legend of Mu Lan, in Chinese, in the style her mother had sung to her as a child. Crystal Lin (on the left) and Meesha Heydon (right) accompanied the poem with a fan dance and a ribbon dance in front of backlighting of pink, purple, red and gold, changing to enhance the various portions of the story. David Chung accompanied the act during the war scenes with off-stage drumbeats.

Putting on such a performance was not quite the same as performing for a store opening or Chinese New Year Celebration. This performance was in a world-famous museum, the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, as part of an art show. One requirement is that dance and poetry must be interwoven into each act. There are no poems that any of us could find that go with a lion dance. With the help of Sean Fong, Phi Phi Dang and Nancy Wang, Judy Cheung wrote a poem for the occasion. 

Two weeks before the show, we needed to know exactly who would be the performers so their names could be written into the souvenir program. That taken care of, Linda Tang who plays our cymbals, became ill two days before the show and could not attend. Neither could her husband Henry, who is our lead drummer. Then parts of the lion couldn't make it to rehearsals. More substitutions took place. On the appointed day, three carloads of RECA performers arrived early, took a tour of the museum, many for the first time in such a place, then had a lengthy on-stage rehearsal, getting use to the stage, theater lighting and sounds. 

In addition to our spectacular performances, RECA members were able to sit down and enjoy such acts as Keong-il Ng, premier dancer for the Korean National Dance Company, Walter Thompson III performing a leaping pagan dance, Mimi Janeslowski performing traditional Thai court dances, and many more. 

After the Dancing Poetry Festival, the performers and staff dashed off to Novato for a second performance of the day to celebrate at the red egg ceremony of Nancy's and Joe's new grandson, Darrick Baldi.

As 3rd VP of Artists Embassy International, the sponsoring organization of the Dancing Poetry Festival, I, Judy Cheung, would like to thank all of the RECA performers and support staff: Phi Phi Dang, Crystal Lin, Meesha Heydon, Darrin Lok, Jimmy Chiu, A Fu Hui, Cynthia Hui, Harrison Tsang, David Chung, Sean Fong, Wen, Meiji Chou, Azy Heydon, Mark Heydon, Bryce Heydon, Nancy and Joe Wang, Henry and Linda Tang, and everyone else who helped to make this art performance a magnificent success. 

Drummers, Nancy and a lion dancer share the rehearsal stage with ballet dancers while professional technicians tested lighting equipment, giving strange visual effects before the performance. Photo by Fred Young

Is Judy being eaten by a lion? No, it is the RECA lion dancers opening the Dancing Poetry Festival at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. Photo by Fred Young, Lindon, NJ

We are sad to announce the passing of Donna Wong, mother of Kenneth Wong. Members and the board of RECA send our condolences to the Wong family in their time of bereavement.

We would also like to thank Kenneth Wong and his family for requesting that donations in his mother's memory be sent to RECA.

AFTER SCHOOL DAYCARE AND PRE-SCHOOL CENTER

RECA is now establishing a multicultural daycare center and daily after school Chinese language program for the children of RECA members and other interested parents. A certificated, loving staff will provide a fun and enriching program of Chinese cultural arts and Chinese language curriculum for all early school-age children, including toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarten, and elementary grade school students. 

Our RECA President Nancy Wang, Secretary Judy Cheng, and child development teacher Azy Heydon are working together to make this dream happen. In addition, consultant Barbara Hunter, an experienced early childhood educator with more than 25 years experience and owner of the Children House Montessori School in Sebastopol will be on hand to respond to parents’ needs and questions. 

If you are interested in enrolling your child and have questions about fees, or would like more information about the After School Daycare or Pre-school program, please call Azy at (707) 575-9541 or email her at azyheydon@email.com, or call Nancy at (707) 576-0533, or Judy (707) 528-0912.

See Santa At Our Holiday Potluck!

                                     
When: Saturday, Dec. 6th. Pose with Santa for a free Polaroid 
photo from 6:00-6:30 p.m. (Limited to the first 40 to 
request photo) Potluck will follow.

Where: 4-H Center, 6445 Commerce Blvd., Rohnert Park 
(behind Rite-Aid)

Bring a main dish entree to share for 8-10 people. RECA will provide dessert.

Want to participate in our gift exchange? Bring a present under $10. Label it: "boy," "girl," "adult male," or "adult female." We will have entertainment and door prizes too. Come and help kick off the holiday season and make our celebration merrier!

PHOTOS FROM RECA PICNIC, SEPT. 7

In true Hawaiian style, people were called to celebrate by blowing a conch shell. Who has the biggest lungs? Photo by Joe Wang

Our master BBQ cooks, hard at work. Photo by Sandy Bartholome.

BBQ chicken with Phi Phi's famous sauce was a big hit among the RECA picnickers. Photo by Judy Cheung.

Youth at our RECA Picnic help set up the various displays to let everyone see what we have been doing all year. Photo by Judy Cheung.

Hula-hoop experts got a chance to perform. Photo by Sandy Bartholome.

Everyone enjoyed doing the hula, especially our active teen group. Photo by Joe Wang

NEWSLETTER SUBMISSIONS

All members are invited to submit articles or photos that may be of interest to other RECA members for publication in this newsletter. Please mail your submissions to RECA's post office box (see back page), or send them via email to reca_news@yahoo.com. Articles are subject to approval and editing by the editor, and will be printed as space permits.

Advertisements in the newsletter are available to all members. The fee is $30 for a one-time advertisement, or $100 for advertisements in all issues for one year. Please send a check for the advertising fee along with your ad to RECA at P.O. Box 7854, Santa Rosa, CA 95407.

Redwood Empire Chinese Association
P.O. Box 7854
Santa Rosa, CA 95407

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