At our monthly beautification project at Frances Hashimoto Plaza yesterday, we were delighted by the visit of Ryan Friedman, the son of late Frances Hashimoto, and his finance, Sharon Im.  We were happy that we could personally show Ryan and Sharon what we had been doing to express our gratitude and respect to one of the most respected community leaders, late Frances.  Even though it was Easter Sunday, 15 members and friends showed up to clean the plaza, and water the Rosemary we had planted.

 

Sown in the picture from left to right are: Weili's friend, Kumiko Nakamura, Mari Robinson, Hiro Yokota, Yokko's husband Hiroyuki Ueda, Haru Takehana, President Makiko Nakasone, Ryan Friedman, Weili Materna, Sharon Im, Chris Komai, Joyce Chinn, Mike Okamoto, and Yokko Ueda.  Not pictured but came for the clean up are Kathy Ikeda and Derek Furukawa, past president of Gardeners Federation of Southern California.  It is important to note that Derek had a conflicting schedule, but instead of skipping the clean up altogether, he came early in the morning to blow leaves on the plaza for us to make our work easier!  Now that is commitment and dedication.

 

As part of the beautification project of the plaza, we are planning to install a stone monument to honor Frances with the money we raised by selling the 52 rice cookers Japan Tiger Corporation of U.S.A. had kindly donated last fall and the Rotary District community grants we recently received.

 

The next clean up will be ay 9:30 am on Sunday, April 24.