Additional Vancouver Asahi Banquet Committee Information

As promised, I am including some background information that will hopefully help everybody to more fully understand the reasons why you’re being e-mailed and encouraged to participate as part of honouring the Vancouver Asahi’s induction into the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.

Just a reminder of the Vancouver Asahi Banquet Committee meeting:

WHEN: Thursday, January 13 (tomorrow) at 5:30 p.m. for one hour.

WHERE: The boardroom at the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

DIRECTIONS: The BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is located just East of the Terry Fox Plaza at B.C. Place Stadium which is at the foot of Robson at Beatty. Metered street parking is available.

CONTACT: Any questions, please let me know, Sam Araki, at sam.araki@bcsportshalloffame.com.

If there is any way you can attend, this would be the meeting to be at, and I would love to meet all of you.

Regards,

Sam

PS … What follows is a summary of what Elmer Morishita and I reviewed in our initial meeting and subsequent correspondence.

Purpose

There is one purpose and that is to properly recognize the official induction of the Vancouver Asahi baseball team into the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum as part of its 2005 induction class. We are looking for members to form the Vancouver Asahi BC Hall of Fame induction committee. This committee will meet on a regular basis for the next four months and shape the support for the team's official Hall of Fame induction.

How

There will be the 'Banquet of Champions' where official induction will take place at the Westin Bayshore and Marina on Thursday, April 28, 2005. Ticket price is $275 each or $2,500 for a table of 10. Inductees will receive free tickets for themselves and also one guest.

Elmer and I spoke of the high cost of the banquet and the subsequent inability of being able to include all constituents who would want to attend.

Thus, we spoke in generalities about holding a secondary event either on the day before or the day after to accommodate a wider part of the community. It would be meant to give something back to the community and let everybody enjoy in this historic occasion. We'd like to invite various parts of the community to attend including but not limited to groups such as the JCCA, Powell Street Festival Society, etc. Any profit made from sponsorship, etc., from the extra event would be split between the participating parties (just an idea).

An example of an excerpt taken from the Powell Street website:

The Powell Street Festival Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Japanese Canadian community's arts, culture, and heritage. We also promote the understanding of Asian Canadian arts, culture and history.

Ultimately what I have in mind is bringing the whole community together through one wonderful event where we can celebrate the past achievements of the Vancouver Asahi and promote the distinct parts of our community in doing so.

The 'Banquet of Champions' serves as the key fundraiser in keeping the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum operational. But our group will seek out sponsorships for tables at the banquet (ie: if there is a free table for inductees, ideally it would be great to find a sponsor to pay for the table by becoming a table sponsor).

Other topics discussed

* The JCNM will open its Vancouver Asahi exhibit sometime in the

Spring and it would be great if the exhibits opening could coincide with the Banquet.

* Invitations will be sent via e-mail to everyone to minimize on costs, but hard copy letters will be sent to those without e-mail.

Issues yet to be resolved

Banquet

Names of those who want to attend the banquet (regardless of ability to pay, etc.), names of those who are to be targeted with invitations to attend

Secondary Event

Everything about it. Including where to hold it, who we want to target for attendance, costs, etc.

Sponsors

Who is the JCNM targeting? We will want to respect who the JCNM is targeting. Who will we target for Banquet and Secondary Event sponsorships? How much are we going to be looking for? How will we work out a mutually beneficial arrangement where the BC Sports Hall will benefit from this annual fundraiser, but will equally benefit the JCNM as well?

Committee Members

I (Sam Araki) am a part of the BC Sports Hall's 'Banquet of Champions' committee. As part of the committee I am the liaison between the Sports Hall and the Vancouver Asahi baseball team. Elmer and I have met and he has mentioned George and Grace as possible participants. Who else will be involved? We spoke of including relevant participants from across the country in this collaboration.

Conclusion

There needs to be a partnership between the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and the Japanese Canadian National Museum. There are needs on both sides that need to be addressed more specifically, but as of now we are on the same track and in the same frame of mind. As we progress there will need to be a funneled process into specifics.a