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Happy Holidays to All

Good News: Santa brought the Asian American community a nice gift with the naming of Edward M. Chen as U.S. Magistrate Judge in San Francisco. Chen, who is a longtime civil rights attorney, will be the first Asian American to serve on the Northern California’s federal bench.

The UCLA graduate is a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union and has helped overturn the World War II era conviction of Fred Korematsu in l983. He is co-director of the ACLU’s Language Rights Project that opposes language-based discrimination. He helped the organization fight Proposition 209, which ended affirmative action in California; Proposition 227, which ended bilingual education in California’s public schools; and measures to make English the nation’s official language.

Chen’s appointment as U. S. Magistrate Judge was made by majority vote of the active district judges. He is the son of the late Rose T.Y. Chen and Mr. Chen, a prominent social and civic-minded family that has given generously to the Asian community in many ways.

Weekend Cheer for Community Elders: San Francisco Lodge Chinese American Citizens Alliance’s former president George H. Leung and his wife Annette, along with members of the CACA brought a weekend of cheers to the residents of the Mission Bay Convalescent Home and less fortunate seniors with gifts of warm socks, clothing, food and necessities.

Eager seniors anxiously anticipated their visit as the facilities provided refreshments of tea, juice, cakes and cookies. It was a festive event for seniors and visitors alike. Mr. Leung noted there were a number of residents over l00 years that were delighted to see visitors.

Husband and wife also distributed 400 variety show tickets and over 500 dinner tickets to various Chinatown senior agencies and family associations.

Fun for the Kids: For the pediatric crowd, Asian Health Services and Sigma Omicron Pi Sorority have chosen to collect new, unwrapped toys for children under the age of l2. Seeking to bring holiday cheer to the economically disadvantaged children, the toy drives are headed by Wendy Yee of SOP and Sherry Hirota, Executive Director of AHS.

Fashionable Fundraising: Looking into 200l, the San Francisco Junior League announced four fashion shows to raise funds for the League’s community projects will take place Mar. l4 and l5 at the Fairmont Hotel. Fashion show chair Jane Inch announced that the League will be kicking off the Diamond Anniversary of the SFJL Fashion Shows with a show entitled Reflections.