A Tribute to Cathy Makihara: Dedicated Leader, Philanthropist, Friend

We hope that Cathy continues to create joy in her retirement and we look forward to her continued support and leadership at Nikkei Place.

After 25 years of dedicated service to Nikkei Place, Cathy Makihara retired from her role as Executive Director of the Nikkei Seniors Health Care and Housing Society (NSHCHS) on February 28, 2021. Cathy has devoted her professional work to the Japanese Canadian community, having held roles at the National Association of Japanese Canadians, Tonari Gumi, Powell Street Festival Society, the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre, and the NSHCHS. She served an instrumental role in establishing the Nikkei Place Foundation in 2002 and worked behind the scenes to secure major leadership gifts to support the three societies at Nikkei Place. Both Cathy and her late husband Robert Banno have made lasting impacts at Nikkei Place through their generous philanthropic contributions.  

On March 10, a plaque unveiling commemorated Cathy’s decades of service to the wellbeing of seniors in our community. The plaque reads:

“In recognition of Cathy Makihara’s years of service to Nikkei Place and Nikkei Seniors Health Care and Housing Society. It has been service marked by dedication, leadership, team-work, and cooperation with the broader community. Compassion and respect for seniors have been her hallmark.”

When Cathy was overseeing the opening of the Kenko Wellness Lounge at Nimi Nikkei Home, a dedicated activity space for seniors, she expressed the importance of cultivating joy and care through the physical space and through the seniors’ programming. We hope that Cathy continues to create joy in her retirement and we look forward to her continued support and leadership at Nikkei Place.

“It has been an honor to work with Cathy Makihara over the past five years as a colleague, donor, and mentor. I would personally like to acknowledge and thank her for her sound advice and guidance. I also appreciated how she values research to practice and integrates her values of respect and dignity to her professional work. On behalf of the Foundation staff and Board of Directors, we extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation to Cathy.” 

Naomi Kawamura
Executive Director, Nikkei Place Foundation 

Cathy inspires us to always stay passionate in work and in life.

2020 in Review: Highlights and Hopes for the coming year

Highlights and Hopes

This year has been unlike any other — the challenges brought on by the pandemic has tested all of us in many ways, but together, we continue to be resilient. We extend our deepest appreciation to our supporters. Nikkei Place would not be here to serve the community without your help and generosity. We share with you highlights from the year from each Nikkei Place charity, and our hopes for the coming year ahead.

Our organizations have been proactively responding to COVID-19 by adapting our operations so that we can continue to serve our community while keeping staff, volunteers, residents, seniors, and visitors safe.

NIKKEI NATIONAL MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTRE

Since gradually reopening the Centre under new health and safety regulations in early June, the NNMCC faces new operational challenges, as our regular lifelines of revenue from venue rentals, fundraising events, and public, school and recreational programs are significantly affected. We have worked diligently to reduce expenses and optimize government and foundation grants. In anticipation of further risk of closure throughout the winter, we launched our Resilience Fundraiser to help raise essential operational funds for this year.

Amid these challenges, we have been able to offer limited but continued in-person programming, and more virtual events and resources than ever before. In the summer, we reimagined our annual Nikkei Matsuri festival into a multi-week small Japanese cultural marketplace. In September, the museum team livestreamed the opening of the BROKEN PROMISES exhibit, which explores the dispossession of Japanese Canadians in the 1940s. This year we also marked the 20th anniversary of the NNMCC which we commemorated through a ceremonial tree planting with the Vancouver Japanese Gardeners’ Association.

NIKKEI SENIORS HEALTH CARE & HOUSING SOCIETY

The NSHCHS responded quickly to COVID-19 by implementing an Infection Prevention Plan, closing to the public, and increasing PPE usage and sanitization across Nimi Nikkei Home and New Sakura-so. The pandemic changed the ways we facilitate everything from meals to activities and programs, and the daily life of our residents. We have been incredibly effective in keeping our seniors and staff safe, with no outbreaks to date.

To combat isolation, we started a ‘Send Letters to Seniors’ initiative, and have received many heartwarming letters and drawings from kids in the community. We also launched new activities including social visits via Zoom and small group crafts like knitting. As we continue to face many challenges, we have been able to persevere thanks to the generosity, support and kindness of our community. Our residents and staff have been on the receiving end of many gifts like masks, hand sanitizers, flowers, and meals for staff that have lifted their spirits. We look ahead now with new leadership from Jay Haraga, as Cathy Makihara retires as Executive Director after 25 years of dedicated service. We feel hopeful for better times ahead, as we continue to navigate these uncertain times.

NIKKEI PLACE FOUNDATION

The NPF remains operational, with staff now working remotely. We thank everyone for their patience as we adjust to new operational processes. In June, the Foundation was deeply impacted by the sudden passing of our founding Board President Robert Banno. We honour his decades of support, leadership, and philanthropy to Nikkei Place with a donor tile on our Legacy Giving Wall. This will be on display at Nikkei Centre in 2021. In September, the Foundation made its annual disbursements to both the NNMCC and NSHCHS, with hopes that our annual giving will increase in the upcoming year. Highlights from the 2019 fiscal year have been published in our annual report, now available here. As we pivot online now more than ever, we have expanded the availability of resources on our website which includes new Tribute Pages that allow you to dedicate a gift to Nikkei Place in honour or in memory of a loved one.

We recognize that this has been a difficult and challenging year and we continue to work towards serving you and the community as best we can. We would like to learn more about our supporters and your thoughts about the future. Please consider answering our short online survey at your convenience here. You can also request a hardcopy by contacting us.

As the year comes to a close, please consider making a year-end gift to Nikkei Place, to help us persevere through COVID-19. Donate online or find out how to make an offline donation here.

If you have already made your year-end gift, we thank you. We also appreciate all of you for your kind words, cooperation and commitment to stay healthy.

Sincerely,

Nikkei Place Executive Directors

Naomi Kawamura
Nikkei Place Foundation

Karah Goshinmon-Foster
Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre

Cathy Makihara and Jay Haraga
Nikkei Seniors Health Care and Housing Society

Happy National Philanthropy Day!

Happy National Philanthropy Day

November 15 is National Philanthropy Day — the day we celebrate the extraordinary change that fundraising and philanthropy have helped to create in the world.

This year has been a difficult one for all of us. We take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to all our Nikkei Place supporters - your efforts help us continue to persevere through the challenges of COVID-19, so that our charities can continue to operate and serve the community.

• Learn how Nikkei Seniors Health Care and Housing Society are keeping seniors healthy and safe during lockdown.

• Learn how Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre is navigating the pandemic, bringing the community limited but continued in-person cultural programming, and more virtual events and resources than ever before.

• Download the Nikkei Place Foundation’s Annual Report to see how donor dollars are building a strong financial future for our community at Nikkei Place.

Here are they ways you can support Nikkei Place: 

• MAKE A SINGLE OR MONTHLY DONATION
  Support our community with a one-time or monthly donation to any Nikkei Place charity.

• CELEBRATIONS AND TRIBUTES
  Make a donation dedicated in celebration, in honour, or in memory of someone or something remarkable. You can also create a customized Tribute Page to collect donations for Nikkei Place in their honour.

• GIFT OF SECURITIES
  A gift of securities to Nikkei Place Foundation can have an immediate impact, as well as let you take advantage of the tax benefits that come with donating  publicly traded securities.

• CONTRIBUTE TO THE ENDOWMENT
  Inspire the potential of future generations with a gift to the Nikkei Place Endowment Fund. Contributions made to this specific fund help create a permanent source of income for Nikkei Place to ensure our good  work in the community continues in perpetuity. 

• PLANNED GIVING
  Leave a gift by will or bequest to Nikkei Place. If you choose to remember Nikkei Place Foundation in your will, you will be leaving a personal and lasting legacy that honours your heritage and your values and lays the foundation for a better future for those to come.