December 2009 - Letter to the membership

Summary of events from the President
From the year 2009

The Saint Paul Nagasaki Sister City Committee has been involved in many events this past year. It is my goal as President to not only talk – but to put talk into action. Over one year ago, we worked with Mirja Hanson to set five year goals for SPNSCC. We are gradually meeting those goals as you can see by the ** after goals listed below. Highlights for our year include:

• Installation of a bench at the Labyrinth honoring Mayor Itoh of Nagasaki.
• Completion of a calendar on our web site showing monthly activities related to SPNSCC and local Japanese events.**
• Continuation of a President’s blog at spnscc@blogspot.com**
• Participation in the Japan America Society of Minnesota’s New Year’s party
• Created a system for billing, including a reimbursement form**
• Created a budget for SPNSCC**
• Conducted a budget review by a licensed CPA**
• Reduced membership renewals to 4 times a year
• Participated in two Hamline events with Walter Enloe, one with guests from Japan
• Volunteered at the Festival of Nations Japanese food booth
• Printed and distributed 2 Hochi newsletters
• Participated in the Lantern Lighting Festival as funders for entertainment.** I volunteered as Emcee and members volunteered in a fund raising booth
• Created membership cards with discounts to Twin City locations**
• Participated in the 11th Day Prayer for Peace at Saint Catherine University
• Held the annual August 9th Nagasaki Commemoration at the labyrinth
• A delegation (Robert Palmer, Larry and Chris Rossow) attended the 10th anniversary of the Nagasaki Saint Paul Sister City Committee. Jim Kunzman and I were also there via the technology of Skype - a software application that allows users to make video calls over the internet **
• Members participated in and attended the Peter Leach fundraiser to bring his photos of Como Ordway Japanese Garden to an exhibition in Nagasaki in April of 2010**


Every year experiences a few “low lights” as well as highlights. This year we lost former member Otto Christensen and were saddened by that. A huge thank you to Jim Kunzman and other annual meeting planners for organizing the tribute we will experience tonight.

We also had an unfortunate incident with our bench dedicated to Mayor Itoh. It was destroyed by vandals shortly after it was placed at the labyrinth. Hopefully by next year we will have a report to you regarding our solution. One other surprise for us this year was that we accidently let our 501.C3 status expire briefly. We are in process of correcting that problem and are clear to do business as usual.





Finally, I want to thank a few individuals for their help and support this past year.

All SPNSCC board members: You each deserve recognition for your time and commitment to our monthly meetings. I am amazed and thankful for your support and positive attitudes. When something needs to be done, someone jumps up and does it. There is no way we can get all of the activities completed without your collaboration.
Ben vanLierop: our Annual Meeting committee chair this year. Also our liaison between Japan America Society of Minnesota and SPNSCC.
Fusako Muro: Membership chair
Kristen Mastel: Our Hochi editor, entertainment recruiter for the Lantern Lighting Festival, active manager for our website, and technology expert
Bill Pesek: Liaison between SPNSCC and the City of Saint Paul. Bill assists us with questions regarding Como Park, the Japanese Garden the labyrinth and more. He has helped us with the audit discussion and supports our connections to the Mayor’s office. He is the reason we are meeting in this wonderful location.
Angela Bailey: treasurer, creator of wonderful documents (such as your calendar) and a person who gets things done!
Rob Palmer: Rob goes above and beyond his role as board member to represent SPNSCC at functions around the Twin Cities, to cart items from Japan to Saint Paul (and back again), to pick up and deliver items for the Festival of Nations and more.
JoAnn Blatchley: She organized the August 9th Commemoration as well as the August 6th Commemoration in Minneapolis, I appreciate her willingness to take over for me today in her role as Vice President, her work as liaison between Peter Leach and SPNSCC, and her can do attitude!
Ann O’Neill: Organized the July 11th event at the CSJ Province Chapel on Randolph Avenue.
Cyndy McKeen and Jim Kunzman: caretakers of the labyrinth
Festival of Nations Volunteers: Including Linda van Doiijeweert, Carol Hanson, Angela Bailey: Without your help, we couldn’t have done it. Thank you!
And I want to thank John Kusske who will remain on the board from a distance as he heads to Asia for a new job. Thanks for being our secretary and a wonderful support for SPNSCC.

SPNSCC ‘s success has always been the fruit of hard work and commitment to our mission of cultural understanding and appreciation of the people of Nagasaki. We are eager to move into the future with determination, great energy and vision.

To all of our members - Domo Arigato Gozaimasu!
Thank you for your membership, your volunteer work, your continued support and resources.
Elizabeth Simmer, President SPNSCC