HOPE Comes to Asian Pacific America: Join "A Thousand Cranes for Hope" this APA Heritage Month
Dear Friends,
A huge, huge mahalo to everyone for being part of the National Day of Service Project, "The Gift of HOPE!"
The Gift of Hope's Washington, D.C. event, and national tie-in, would not have been possible without the leadership of Vida Benevides, ED of APIAVote and President Obama's AAPI team!
Many thanks to Vida Benevides and Alvina Yeh of APIA Vote! And to Pearl Gala partners Gloria Coile, Francey Youngberg, Irene Bueno and Christina Chen! And President Barack Obama's AAPI team: Charmaine Manansala, Betsy Kim & Ed Yoon!
Many thanks to our elected officials and celebrities - Yul Kwon, Hon. Gary Locke, Hon. Doris Matsui, Hon. Mike Honda, Hon. Fiona Ma, Hon. Suja Lowenthal, Hon. Jean Quan, Hon. Harold Fong, Hon. Laura Lee & Hon. Kris Wang. And let's make that a double-thanks to Governor Gary Locke, who surprised us with his compelling call to action to "Give HOPE" not once, but twice, at the APIAVote Town Hall!
Many thanks to Curtis Chin of APAP who inspired me to make this a National Day of Service, to Shelly Choo of APAMSA who organized the nation's medical students towards this effort, and to NMDP Affiliates: Carol Gillespie of the Asian American Donor Program, Sharon Sugiyama of Asian Miracle Marrow Matches, Mr. Khan of South Asian Marrow Association of Recruiters, Cammy Lee of the Cammy Lee Leukemia Foundation, Dr. Jan of the Paul Hom Asian Clinic, Asian Health Services, Family Bridges, AAPIs for Obama and Asian Americans for Obama.
And, most importantly, THE PEOPLE, in need ... AAPIs, age 18 months to 60+ years, who need our help to find the "perfect bone marrow match" that will save their lives to they can make a better future:
Bring HOPE to the PEOPLE we are searching for a bone marrow match for:
Asian American Donor Program's
Faces of Hope
Asian Miracle Marrow Matches'
Faces of Hope
Cammy Lee Leukemia Foundation's
Faces of Hope
SAMAR's
Faces of Hope
Because this Presidency is a government "for, of and by it's PEOPLE."
Hundreds responded to President Obama's Call to National Service, and dozens volunteered to "pledge-it-forward" (a coin I phrased because of Hon. Laura Lee's commitment to be my first "pledge-it-forward.")
Since the January 19th/20th National Day of Service, we conducted drives at the Tet Festival in San Francisco, the Oakland Chamber of Commerce's Lunar New Year Bazaar, the SF Health Department, etc.
We're planning 2 more on February 7 for Lunar New Year's ... one at Stanford organized by AADP, Vinca Chow, APAMSA's National Bone Marrow Director and Hon. Kris Wang, and another at the Cerritos Friendship Festival organized by Hon. Laura Lee, A3M and Elena Ong.
There's also the prospect of more drives coming up in Chicago!
Congratulations, everyone!
Because of you, HOPE is Coming to Asian Pacific America!
Because of you, APAMSA's President Shelly Choo & National Bone Marrow Director Vinca Chow will be launching "A Thousand Cranes for HOPE" at it's Stanford University Drive on Lunar New Year's, February 7, 2009, to inspire, support, and encourage, community leaders to organize and host bone marrow drives throughout America during Asian Pacific Heritage Month. Cerritos City Councilwoman will be doing the same at the Friendship Festival.
Because of you, Yul Kwon will be our spokesperson, to help AAPIs find their "perfect match" on college campuses and at community events during APA Heritage Month, to help APAMSA achieve it's goal of "A Thousand AAPI Bone Marrow Donors" by APA Heritage Month.
So, if you're organizing an APA Heritage Month event, and would like our "HOPE Comes to Asian Pacific America" team, to conduct a bone marrow program at your event, please contact by March 1, 2009.
Elena Ong at
yeswedid.yeswecan@gmail.com
Vinca Chow of APAMSA at
vincachow@gmail.com:
www.apamsa.org
Carol Gillespie at AADP at
carol@aadp.org:
www.aadp.org
Sharon Sugiyama at A3M at
ssugiyama@ltsc.org at:
www.asianmarrow.org
Cammy Lee at CLLF at
cammy_cllf@yahoo.com:
www.cammylee.org
Rafiya Khan at SAMAR at
samar@samarinfo.org @at:
www.samar.org
Best,
Elena Ong
National Coordinator, "The Gift of HOPE": 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee's National Day of Service
310-948-2947
"THE GIFT OF HOPE":
The Gift of Hope: Presidential Inaugural Committee National Day of Service January 23, 2009
Hundreds volunteered! And dozens heeded President Obama and Governor Locke's call to action - by "pledging it forward" and agreeing to host/organize an AAPI Bone Marrow Drives before and during May 2009, APA Heritage Month to reach APAMSA's goal: "1,000 Cranes of Hope." In fact, AAPIs for Obama National Leader Rocky Chin just signed up to do a Bone Marrow Drive for the Yale National Day of Service on May 16, 2009. Because of Eugenia Beh of Asian Americans for Obama, we are now working with a patient's family member who wants to do a bone marrow drive in Chicago and D.C., for her aunt who lives in Cupertino, CA, where Vice Mayor Kris Wang heeded the call to action by organizing bone marrow drives in libraries across Cupertino.
We've got both a social bottom-line, and a financial bottom-line. We are organizing "people-up" solutions.
It's like setting up a voter registration goal, and getting folks to register early, register in person, and register by mail!
We are training people for America's future.
Anyone who can register a voter can register a bone marrow donor, and vice versa!
GenerASIAN Next! The Power of 1 Million New Asian American Voters!
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