Posts in category: blog

By Linda Revilla 

For the regional fundraiser event Big Day of Giving, ACC usually has a party/open house featuring ACC bands, food, arts demonstrations and exhibits, and last year, a craft and vendor fair. 

Because of the pandemic, we made the choice to do it all online. Our informal motto was “go big!” We broadcast an epic five-hour live telethon on Facebook that brought $150,000 in donations. This is more than double the amount raised last year. 

Three masked MCs, Mike Marando, Linda Revilla, and Scott Okamoto, interviewed local dignitaries such as Council Member Rick Jennings, My Sister’s House ED Nilda Valmores, APAPA’s Yen Marshall and CC Yin, and more. In-house live guitar music by ACC Memory Care  Nurse Manager Michael Deneau added to the excitement on the set and provided quite the ear worm with his rendition of “Times Like These.” 

Musical guest acts were Skyped in live. Shirley Stassi transfixed the audience with a beautiful hula. Ukulele was well-represented by Judge William Shubb; Dennis & Janet Fisher; and Dani Joy. ACC guitar duos Asian Pair (George Connor & Mary Nakamura) and Gary Yee and Jane Nakagawa also performed. Koichi Mizushima with daughter Ellie, and singer Alexi Ishida were other highlights, bringing youthful energy to the show. ACC volunteer instructor Joaquin Ngarangad led a trio in dancing/exercising to a disco number- all the while wearing masks.  ACC Culinary Services Manager James Hutchins flambéed a steak as part of his demo that had one viewer comment, “it was torture to watch because we couldn’t taste that steak!” 

There was a mix of entertainment and information on ACC programs and services. The telethon was to raise funds to mitigate the effect of the pandemic on ACC’s operations. Our efforts to keep everyone safe and adhere to the shelter-in-place orders means pausing programs such as the Lifelong Learning & Wellness classes, limiting transportation by ACC Rides to critical rides, halting move-ins at Greenhaven Terrace and Maple Tree Village, and taking extra sanitizing precautions and increased use of personal protective equipment at all sites, especially the Care Center. All of this has impacted ACC economically.  Facebook showed 2,100 cumulative “views” of the telethon on the day it was broadcast, May 7, 2020. Since then, the recording on Facebook has gone viral, with 5,000 more views! No doubt, the appearance by Broadway stars Welly Yang and Dina Morishita, who shared two beautiful songs, and special guests Lisa and Laura Ling with their father Doug Ling are reasons why the broadcast has had repeated views. Ted Fong, ACC consultant, was the “man behind the curtain,” aided by volunteers Garret Ashizawa and Nina Fong, and staff Perfecto Bravo and Michael Yang. The success of the telethon has ACC planning future live online events. ACC TV anyone?

By Wayne Kurahara

Whenever ACC has an event or activity, we rely on families and friends to help.  This includes local restaurants and businesses.  They are some of our most generous benefactors.  They donate their time, manpower, equipment, goods, and services.  Without them, our fundraising as well as many of our events and activities would not be nearly as successful.  We are extremely fortunate to have them.  In this regard, they are part of the ACC Family, too.

These local restaurants and businesses are like individual families that first need to take care of their own family members.  Even though they may seem highly successful, the profit margins are much smaller than what you would think.  Some operate with less than a ten percent profit margin.  So that means that if they must close for a couple of months (or lose 10-15% of their business) during the COVID-19 pandemic, it puts the restaurant or business in jeopardy.  

Although, we do not know of the financial situation of individual restaurants and businesses, we should support those in our community as they do for us.  Here is a partial list of restaurants and businesses that are part of the ACC Family.  Even though some are not conducting their “Business as Usual” schedule or operation, many are open for limited hours and/or limited/reduced services.   Nonetheless, ACC urges you to continue to support them just as you do for your own family.

Even if you can’t order their food or flowers right away, “like” and “share” their social media posts or post positive reviews and photos.

• A Sushi Experience at Oto’s Market Place
• A Taste Above Restaurant
• Balshor Florist
• Binchoyaki Izakaya
• Bouquet Florist & Gifts
• Cacio Restaurant
• Caffe Latte Restaurant
• Device Brewing Company
• Fishology Poke Bar
• Frank’s Quality Meats
• Heringer Family Estates
• Kiyo’s Floral Design
• Leatherby’s Family Creamery of Elk Grove
• L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, Lake Crest Village
• Le Croissant Factory
• Lemon Grass Restaurant
• Marie Callender’s Restaurant
• Mikuni’s Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar
• New China Restaurant
• Nugget Markets
• Oak Park Market
• Origami Asian Grill
• Osaka Ya
• Oto’s Market Place
• Pho Bac Restaurant
• Royal Florist
• Shari’s Restaurant
• The Izakaya 
• Vic’s Ice Cream
• Wilson Family Winery
• Zen Toro Restaurant
• Zocalo Restaurant

By Ted Fong

Maeley Tom’s new book “I’m Not Who You Think I Am” is aptly titled. Residents at ACC Care Center know Maeley as a skilled vocalist whose performances have brought them immense joy over the years. Yet behind her smooth, jazzy voice is her other voice that, for  decades, transformed California politics. Those who know her as a politico will find her personal story and innermost thoughts fascinating.

Maeley Tom is a trailblazer who spent her career bringing Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (APIA) into the political process. Getting them elected. Getting them appointed. And she did so while serving at the highest levels of State government, working on presidential campaigns, and more. 

Maeley was the Chief Administrative Officer of the California State Assembly and Chief of Staff to the President of the State Senate, David Roberti. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan appointed her to serve on the Women’s Business Ownership Commission. She was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee during Bill Clinton’s presidency at the invitation of DNC Chairman Ron Brown. In every decade since the 70s, Maeley shattered a new glass ceiling, bringing others with her. 

Her new book reveals how she brought together people with power, money, and influence. Often, she was doing the influencing.

Maeley explains how her upbringing, like her political career, was anything but traditional. Her parents were famous Chinese opera stars who were not able to raise her. They sent her to live with a French Basque woman in the Richmond District. At age 16, Maeley was self sufficient and financially independent.

After graduating from San Francisco State University with a degree in Social Welfare, Maeley recalls, “I looked forward to a profession where I would be able to help people in need, as I had been helped during my times of need.” If she only knew what lay ahead.

A master storyteller, Maeley describes her political journey from the very beginning, spanning from Sacramento to Washington, D.C. As a woman and ethnic minority, she plowed through many challenges that faced her. Fortunately, she was good at reading people, understanding their doubts and prejudices, and connecting with them in a positive way. Maeley learned very quickly how politics worked as her star rose.

As a high governmental appointee, Maeley was in a unique position to build an APIA political movement. Elected officials and grassroots organizations alike followed her drumbeat. In her book, page after page, name after name, Maeley recounts the details. She also expresses her gratitude to just about every collaborator she could remember. 

One person she brings up repeatedly is Georgette Imura, who she says, “shared my passion and vision of change.” Maeley and Georgette stepped up to be the “face that took the risks” to promote the APIA political agenda. In a first, they formed the Asian Pacific Legislative Staff Caucus at the state Capitol. Current ACC Board member Joyce Iseri was in this group.

Throughout her book, Maeley describes situations where people misjudged her or were downright prejudiced. Her story about interviewing for a top job with State Assembly Rules Committee Chairman Lou Papan is a good example. It fit a certain pattern. Once people found out who she really was (hence the title of the book), whom she was connected with, and what her capabilities were, they changed their views about her. Many became allies. 

Maeley details the Clinton fundraising scandal and how much she suffered at the hands of congressional investigators and the press looking for high-value targets with Asian ties. It was the low point in her career. But key people stood up for her. Close friends mended her spirits and got her past this crisis.

Maeley says her husband Ron Tom was “the source of stability in the family,” especially during this difficult time and others, like her mother’s passing and her bout with cancer. Ron and Maeley have been married for 50 years and have a daughter, Stephanie.

Maeley participated in this year’s Big Day of Giving at ACC. When asked what her most satisfying achievement was, she said it was mentoring others, so they have the same opportunities that she had. It is no accident that the word “mentor” appears 22 times in her book. As the only child of absentee parents, Maeley writes, “I totally relied on mentors and role models to help me navigate my own life.”

While Maeley is still involved in various public causes, she continues to use the musical gifts she inherited from her parents to enrich the lives of seniors at ACC. One time, after receiving a lengthy introduction at an ACC performance, she told the audience, “These titles mean very little to me, because I am here to sing for you. It’s just me, you, and the music.” In that moment, nothing else mattered to her.

By Scott Okamoto

From 1909 until 2010 the Courtland Library operated out of personal homes and living rooms in the community of Courtland. The Courtland Library was 100 years old in 2010 and for the last 67 years, the library had been run by volunteers. For 23 years of that hundred, it was a county run library. 

In 1992, the country library administration did not renew the lease on the building that housed the Courtland Library (next to the post office). Administration allowed the library to keep its existing collection of books and the River Delta Unified School District gave space on the Courtland Elementary School grounds for the volunteer library to continue. 

From 1993 until 2003, the library was kept open by volunteers. Nonie Wetzel spearheaded the movement to keep the library doors open, where she spent countless hours sorting and shelving books. Nonie and other community members worked tirelessly to keep the library operating. Nonie, having been a teacher for 29 years herself, knew the value and importance of books. She strongly believed that the children of Courtland and their parents deserved easy access to a community library. 

As a fruit of their efforts, on May 1, 2003, the official opening of the new Courtland Library was celebrated. The new library was a collaborative effort of the Sacramento Public Library and the River Delta Unified School District. The new building that houses the library was made possible through a grant of $200,000 by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. Nonie was elated to maintain an accessible location for the community of Courtland where she lived. 

Members of the community felt strongly that the library was still in existence only because of Nonie’s leadership and the efforts of her fellow volunteers. County Supervisor Don Notolli, the Sacramento Public Library and the River Delta School District were approached by members of the community for permission to rename the library in Nonie’s honor. The request was approved unanimously and on August 21, 2016 a renaming ceremony was held and the library is now officially known as “Nonie Wetzel Courtland Community Library”. 

Nonie was born in Alturas, CA, but was raised in Portland Oregon. Nonie’s mother was a homemaker and worked in her family owned restaurant. Her father was a laborer and worked in the lumber mills. She said that her parents always prompted her and her brothers to “go to school and get a good education.” They encouraged Nonie to attend college and follow her dreams of becoming a teacher. 

Nonie moved to Yreka, CA, where she graduated high school. Shortly thereafter, she met and married her husband, and they lived together in Eugene, Oregon. Their move to Sacramento enabled Nonie to attend California State University and graduate with her degree in Childhood Development and Education. Their eventual move to Courtland was sight unseen. “My husband got a job in Courtland, which we had never visited, but it allowed me to go to California State, so we were off,” she said. 

Following college graduation, Nonie started a family and welcomed their two children, a daughter who was a successful attorney, and a son who became a successful landscape designer. 

Nonie and her husband both continued their careers as teachers while raising two children. Nonie taught Consumer and Homemaking Education while her husband taught Science. She affectionately added, “I was a good teacher, but he was excellent!” Nonie left teaching when her daughter passed away from cancer and her husband needed her at home. Later she would become a consultant for the State Department of Education. 

Nonie now calls ACC Maple Tree Village home and is excited to once again start a library from the ground up. Nonie says that she would “love to see a variety of books…including a good fiction section.” She says that with the help and generosity of book readers in the community, “the library will build itself overtime. There are a lot of generous people out there.” ACC Maple Tree Village is now accepting donations of current books in new or gently used condition to begin their community library accessible for residents and staff. Under the guidance of Nonie, ACC Maple Tree Village’s Resident Library is sure to share the love and appreciation of books for years to come! 

They were at the right place at the right time. ACC Rides driver Hoa Tran was following Meals on Wheels driver George Spatta in early May, assisting in meal deliveries. On that day, a senior did not answer his door. Following the “welfare check” protocol, the drivers looked through windows to check on the occupant. The residence was dark, but Hoa saw the senior lying flat on his back on the floor, banging with his cane trying to get attention. Hoa called 911. 

George and Hoa waited at the residence until emergency personnel arrived and broke into the house through a back door. The drivers made sure the senior was in good hands with the emergency personnel before they continued on their meal delivery route. 

Every few weeks, ACC Rides drivers help deliver 3 weeks’ worth of meals to clients. The drivers work as a team, making between 40-70 deliveries per day. 

On commending Hoa, Michelle Bustamante, Meals on Wheels program operations manager, says, “I, too, wish to express my gratitude for your assistance yesterday. George shared with me that due to your keen eyes and ears, that participant was found alive. Though nutritious meals are very important to our participants, you were part of the most important aspect of our program, the welfare check. You are a life saver in the true sense of the word. When we say ‘we are more than just a meal,’ this is exactly what we mean. Thank you, Hoa!”

Kevin McAllister, tMeals on Wheels executive director, also shared his thanks, “Thank you for conducting a welfare check and for calling 911 for our home-delivered meal program participant. Moreover, I appreciate all of the support you’ve provided our team over the last few months. We have an incredible team!”

Hoa said that he was just happy they were delivering meals to that senior that day. “We don’t know how long he was on the floor, probably one night or longer. He didn’t have much clothes on and was very, very cold. If we hadn’t found him that day, it could have been ‘game over.’” 

Always modest, Hoa replied to the accolades, “I’m just trying to do the best I can.”