Minutes of the Meetings

Minutes of the July 12, 2008 Meeting, recorded by Nora Kay

Minutes of the May 18, 2008 Meeting, recorded by Nora Kay

Minutes of the April 5, 2008 Meeting, recorded by Nora Kay

Nora taking meeting notes

Minutes of the February 21, 2008 Meeting, recorded by Nora Kay

Picture at the meeting

Minutes of the November 17, 2007 Meeting, recorded by Nora Kay

March 4, 2007 Meeting Minutes

Time: 2:00 p.m., Sunday, February 11, 2007
Place: St. Thomas More Church, 1300 Junipero Serra Blvd., San Francisco, Ca

Present: Francis Ting, Henry Lim, Clarence Chan, Thomas Young, Patrick Ho, Felix Chin, James Huang, Joe Chow, Jean Chow, Lulu Liou & Stan Liou.

Contents

Volunteers for the Chinese New Year Dinner Party will be:

1. More Volunteers are needed to help at the Front Desk and to decorate the site on the day of the Chinese New Year Dinner. Please email Webadmin@wanhua.org or call Stan Liou at 650-302-6993 if you can help.

2. More raffle prizes for Chinese New Year Dinner are needed from alumni. Please bring your gifts to the April 7 meeting. Current gift donors are: Nora & Ken Kay, Clarence Chan, James Huang, Stan & Lulu Liou, Jean, and Joe Chow. Thomas agreed to go out and buy Grand Prize items.

3. Emcee: James Huang (Chinese and English versions)

4. Invite teachers to attend our Chinese New Year Party – Francis Ting will find out which teachers will attend and Stan Liou will invite them.

5. Adopted James Huang’s suggestions to give teachers the honor to say a few words at the Dinner, and to show some slides of Wan Hua student pictures, 2006 Picnic pictures, Grand Canyon trip pictures and New Year Party pictures. Ken Key, the photographer, will be in charge of producing slides.

6. Speeches to be concluded by 7:00 p.m. and a full-course dinner will be served immediately afterwards.

7. Starting with this meeting, the Association will email minutes of meetings to Honorary Presidents, Directors, Officers and Attendees, and Resolutions will be posted on the website.

8. Frequency of alumni meetings – Unanimously agreed to hold a meeting every other month. However the President, at his discretion, can call special meetings to discuss matters of upmost importance.

9. Meeting Agenda – We urge our alumni to send in their ideas and opinions. Based on their input, the Association will prepare agendas for discussion in its meetings. Alumni’s suggestions and comments are essential to our building a better association.

10. Stan Liou will ask the restaurant’s Manager to provide healthier food with less salt and less oil.

11. Next alumni meeting – Saturday, April 07, 2007 at 12:00 noon, at Lulu & Stan Liou’s Residence, 360 Marcella Way, Millbrae, CA 94030. Phone: (650) 302-6993. Note: Mohingar with Bei-Kyaw will be served. Please come and taste Millbrae’s best Burmese chef’s cooking.

Prepared by Joe Chow

February 11, 2007 Meeting Minutes

Time: 2:00 p.m., Sunday, February 11, 2007
Place: St. Thomas More Church, 1300 Junipero Serra Blvd., San Francisco, Ca

Present: Joseph Lye, James Huang, Francis Ting, Joe Chow, Jean Chow, Lulu Liou, Stan Liou, Steven Kong, Felix Chin, Arthur Wong, and Clarence Chan.

Contents

1. Stan informed the members at the meeting that the Myanmar Overseas Chinese Association has invited us to join them in their world-wide reunion party which is held every other year. This time, it will be held in Hong Kong from Sept 14 to16. Registration fee is US$60 per person. Airfare, lodging and food are not included. If any body wants more information, please contact Stan.

2. Francis Ting said he heard that there is an ex-Wanhua teacher living in Chicago, but he doesn’t know how to contact him/her. This year’s dinner party will be a little different from last year’s. Instead of selling tickets to our teachers, we will invite them to the party. At this time, we do not know how many teachers will come.

3. The following names were proposed during the meeting:
(1). Burma Wan Hua Alumni Association of Northern California. (2). Burma Wan Hua Alumni Association of Bay Area. (3). Burma Overseas Chinese Wan Hua Alumni Association of Northern California. (4). Burma Overseas Chinese Wan Hua Alumni Association of Bay Area.
Attendees unanimously voted for No. 1. From now on, the Association will be known as Burma Wan Hua Alumni Association of Northern California.

4. In the future, meeting agendas will be e-mailed to all the officers and interested persons three days in advance. We hope this will allow more alumni to participate in our discussions, thereby making them more lively and energetic. If anybody has any comments or suggestions, please let us know. We will include your comments or suggestions in the agenda. Your participation is important to us. You can send them to our secretary, Joe Chow, at yangon71@yahoo.com or via any officers.

5. Meeting adjourned. The next meeting will be held on Sunday March 4, 2007. Time: 2:00 p.m. Place: St. Thomas More Church, 1300 Junipero Serra Blvd, San Francisco.

Prepared by Joe Chow

January 21, 2007 Meeting Minutes

Place:Joe's and Jean's residence, 832 Hawthorne Way, Millbrae, Ca
Time:11:30 a.m., Sunday, January 21, 2007

Present:Jean Chow, Joe Chow, Thomas Young, Joseph Lye, James Huang, Lulu Liou, Stan Liou, Henry Lim, Francis Ting, Clarence Chan, Diana Tseng, Cynthia Lim, Charlie Tseng, Cho Kok Liang (a) Dr. Kyaw Win, Pin Tsi Liu, Arther Wong, Steven Kong, Oliver Young, James Young, Patrick Ho, Edward Chin, Peter Chin, Richard Lai, Nora Kay, and Ken Kay.

Contents

President Stan informed the members that the New Year Dinner Party will be held on April 15, 2007 at the Grand Palace Seafood Restaurant, 359 Grand Ave., South San Francisco. Booked for 12 tables with an option to add more tables. He delegated members to sell tickets ($30 per person). The party will start at 5 p.m. until 11 p.m.

Stan advised members to come early before 5 p.m. because we are going to take a group photo before the party commences.

We decided to have two MCs. Jean Chow will do an English version and James Huang will do a Chinese version.

Stan Liou will handle the party program for the evening.

We encourage members to donate a couple of items ($10 each) for raffles. More prizes will attract more people to buy raffles. In addition, we will add 1st, 2nd & 3rd grand prizes which are worth about $100, $75 & $50 respectively. Thomas Young will be responsible for getting those items. As far as selling raffle tickets is concerned, each EC member will be responsible to sell to the people with whom he/she shares the table.

Follow up on Nuns/Teachers donation: Francis Ting & Henry Lim had requested their friend, who left for Burma on 1/16/07, to deliver the $200 to the nuns in Burma.

Some members mentioned ways of raising funds for our Association. We decided that they are not feasible to our cause. At this meeting, we collected cash donations of $463 from some of our members.

We are going to adopt Henry’s suggestions on how to solve issues. All issues will be decided and solved at the monthly meetings by vote (no electronic vote). Major issues will require 66% yes, and minor issues will only require 51% yes for approval.

We briefly talked about what name the Association should take. Tentatively, it will be named "Burma Wan Hua Alumni Association." But we will call for a vote at the next meeting to decide our Association’s permanent name.

Our unfinished By-Laws will be continued by the following persons: Diana Tseng, Stan Liou, Henry Lim, James Huang & Clarence Chan. Also, we will define the Director’s duties and responsibilities.

We delegated the following persons to contact other alumni who are still not aware that we exist. James Huang for International. Nora Kay for USA and Patrick Ho for Bay Area.

Meeting was adjourned. The next meeting will be held on Sunday Feb 11, 2007 at St Thomas More Church, 1300 Junipero Serra Blvd, San Francisco at 2:00 p.m.

If you have any suggestions or comments, please e-mail yangon71@yahoo.com.

Prepared by Joe Chow

December 3, 2006 Meeting Minutes

Place: Scanlan Hall, St. Thomas More Church, 1300 Junipero Serra Blvd., San Francisco
Time: 2:45 p.m., Sunday, December 3, 2006

Present:: Stan Liou, Felix Chin, Joe Chow, Jean Chow, Lulu Liou, Henry Lim, William Chou, Chou Kong Sun, Joseph Lye, David Wong, James Huang, Maximus Chin, Francis Ting, Steven Kong and Clarence Chan.

Meeting was called to order.

Chairman Stan, in his opening remark, requested all attending Officers to set an example by donating cash to the Association, in any amount. He announced that Peter Wong from New York had donated $50.00 the night before. He added that donation should be on a voluntary basis, but at the present time, our association needs funds. He encouraged all members to show their enthusiasm in supporting this donation drive.

Concerning cash donation to the nuns/ teachers in Burma, Chairman Stan requested Francis Ting to take charge of it. All the relevant information about the transaction should be reported to the Association in due course. A total amount of $200.00 in cash was handed over to Francis Ting by Chairman

Stan pointed out that election of eleven to thirteen members to the Board of Directors was quite right and a good proposal. At present twelve members had been selected, but one remaining empty seat has to be added to the Board. Joseph Lye is to retain his position. The final number of Directors on the Board would be 13. The Chairman proposed that Ken Yup be appointed Honorary President because of his generous cash contribution to the association, and all members agreed unanimously to this proposal. Unfortunately, due to his work schedule, Ken could not make himself available at the meeting. Joe Chow has been participating all along in all the activities of the Association voluntarily since it was established in the year 2005. Without objection, he was honored to be a Wan Hua alumnus with full membership rights by Chairman and the members.

After discussion, it was decided to delete the "Northern California" heading from the Association’s letter head and banners.

Suggestion was made and adopted to add Chinese names to the Alumni List. This will make it easier for our alumni to identify those schoolmates, who are better known by their Chinese names.

James Huang suggested that communication with our alumnae and alumni, especially during holiday seasons like Christmas and New Year, should be by U.S. mail. But Henry Lim brought up the cost of postage. Chairman said that it’s better to make use of phone and website for dissemination of information and communication, rather than writing.

Chairman said that the upcoming Lunar New Year dinner party has been scheduled for April 15, 2007. For the time being 15 tables are booked at the restaurant in South San Francisco. The number of tables has to be determined. The price of a ticket will be set at $30.00. Joe Chow and Stan would go to the restaurant for further arrangements.

Jean Chow handed over her duty to the newly-appointed Treasurer, Clarence Chan, at the meeting. She distributed copies of her final financial report to the members and her successor.

James Haung proposed that we keep backup files of documents and photos from the website in paper folders. Chairman and Henry Lim suggested that the backup system on the website is sufficient for the Association.

Steven Kong requested Henry to collect alumni’s names, addresses and phone numbers from the registration book. But it was fewer than three alumni who actually registered, Henry replied.

Jean Chow donated $100.00. David Wong donated $25.00. William Chou donated $40.00 and Peter Wong donated $50.00.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m.

Prepared by Maximus Chin.

September 3, 2006 Meeting Minutes

Place: Scanlan Hall, St. Thomas More Church, San Francisco
Time: 2:00 to 4:30 p.m., Sunday, September 3, 2006

Attendees (in alphabetical order): Alfred Chin, Felix Chin, Dr. Maximus Chin, Kang Sun Chou, Jean Chow, Joe Chow, Steven Kong, Henry Lim, Lulu Liou, Stan Liou, Francis Ting, Dr. Kyaw Win, Arthur Wong, and Thomas Young.

Acknowledgement: Our thanks go to the following alumni who brought in food for their fellow attendees:

  • Felix Chin for yellow sticky rice, tasty steamed beans and coconut flakes
  • Steven Kong for a boxful of pork and sweet cheese buns
  • Stan and Lulu Liou for an apple pie
  • Joe and Jean Chow for cookies

Discussion:

  1. Joe and Jean Chow reported to the attendees that the rent for the picnic site, food and other expenses we incurred in holding the Wan Hua Family Picnic exceeded the income from ticket sales by $144.14. This shortfall will be picked up by the Wan Hua Alumni Association.
  2. Steven Kong said that every time we meet we spend too much time discussing the nuns and their orphanage. We should rather concentrate on finding ways to make the Wan Hua Alumni Association a better organization.
  3. Stan Liou said our original mission is to help the retired teachers and nuns, not to finance their project(s). Therefore the expenses they incur in running their orphanage are irrelevant to our Association. Joe Chow said after all the Wan Hua Alumni Association may not have enough resources to support their orphanage. Out of their kindness for the nuns, the attendees agreed to send them $100 a month until all the money in the Fund exhausts completely. The account summary prepared by Jean Chow shows that as of 9/9/2006 the Retired Teachers and Nuns Fund has a total of $480.00. Francis Ting said there are no surviving retired teachers in Burma. We can therefore use all the available charity on the nuns.
  4. Steven Kong said whoever is elected next President of the Wan Hua Alumni Association should be given a freehand to choose his own team of Officers. He likened this to American Presidents picking their own choice of secretaries to fill their cabinets after they win their election. He said this is also the practice they use at his Hakka Association. By the way Steven Kong is newly-elected President of Veng Cheng Hakka Association in San Francisco.
  5. Steven Kong said we should do away with annual membership dues of $20 per member and ask for donations at the events sponsored by the Association. Stan Liou said we did that at the last year's Chinese New Year Banquet, but the result was not encouraging. Steven said we didn't do it the right way. That's why there was a lack of positive result. Henry Lim said it's not a good idea for the Association to rely solely on alumni's donations. Depending totally on donations is equivalent to putting the Association at the mercy of the donors. Our Association is unique in a sense that we use both funding methods, i.e., collecting membership dues as well as accepting donations. Steven said more people will join our Association if there is no membership dues imposed. Henry Lim said free membership in the Association will not necessarily mean there will be a whole bunch of alumni coming to our meetings or participate in our events/activities. Membership dues indeed free the Officers from the burden of soliciting donations. Asking people for donations is a tough job. It will not only put a lot of pressure on the Officers but also scare away many alumni. And we will have a hard time finding qualified alumni to take on the positions as Officers of the Association. As we all know our Officers serve on a voluntary basis, collecting no financial rewards of any sort.
  6. Concerning the proposed trip to Las Vegas, Steven Kong said he will ask George Young, President of Nan Zhong Alumni Association, for the phone number of the company that runs tour buses. Stan Liou volunteered to contact the outfit for quotations. Jean Chow suggested that the company we pick must have a good safety record and must provide a backup bus in case of emergencies.
  7. Alfred Chin suggested that we announce the Las Vegas tour on our website as well in local Chinese-language newspapers. Henry Lim will be responsible for writing and sending out the Chinese-language announcement.
  8. Stan Liou said there is not enough time to hold a separate students reunion dinner. Instead, we will combine it with our annual Chinese New Year banquet and call it "Chinese New Year and Students Reunion Dinner." Since restaurants that cater to banquets charge higher prices on Saturdays, our reunion banquet will be held on a Sunday, toward the end of February 2007.
  9. Our annual election of President will be held in November of this year. We encourage all our alumni to come and vote for individuals whom they think are best qualified to lead us in 2007.
  10. Steven Kong suggested that we get a rubber stamp for the Wan Hua Alumni Association.
  11. Steven Kong said one Wan Hua alum complained about the member list we currently maintain on our website. This list indicates who have paid their annual membership dues and who haven't. This individual said this kind of list discriminates against non-member alumni, making them look really bad. Kang Sun Chou of Macau suggested that we create two separate lists on the website - one, to be called "Member List," showing the names of the alumni who have formally joined the Wan Hua Alumni Association by paying their membership dues and the other, to be called "Alumni List," showing the names of all those alumni who have provided us with their contact information.
  12. The next meeting will be held on Sunday, October 8, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. The meeting site will remain the same - Scanlan Hall at St. Thomas More Church in San Francisco.

Recorded by: Henry Lim

August 6, 2006 Meeting Minutes

Place: Scanlan Hall, St. Thomas More Church, San Francisco
Time: 2:00 to 4:30 p.m., Sunday, August 6, 2006

Attendees: Clarence Chan, Felix Chin, Stan Liou, Lulu Liou, Maximus Chin, Joe Chow, Jean Chow, James Huang, Francis Ting, Shan Khin, and Henry Lim

  1. With his own money, Felix Chin bought steamed chicken buns, spongy rice cakes, and cookies and brought them to the meeting. Our thanks go to him for his kindness and generosity.
  2. Felix Chin praised all volunteers for the success of the picnic. Stan attributed the success to the group effort put in by all the volunteers.
  3. Felix Chin said that Cindy Tan, who is Lit Taik Tan's daughter, donated $25 at the picnic to Wan Hua Alumni Association. Our thanks go to Cindy for her donation.
  4. Francis Ting reported to the attendees that Joseph Vong, a CACS alum, passed away on Wednesday, August 5, 2006 in Santa Clara due to kidney failure. Joseph was a little over 60 when he died. He had suffered a stroke before. Each attendee chipped in $10 to buy flowers that will be sent to Joseph's funeral. A sum of $90 was collected and handed to Felix Chin.
  5. Jean Chow said we have yet to send money to the Wan Hua nuns and retired teachers. It has been sitting there for quite some time. Francis Ting said he has given Felix Chin the email address of the contact person in Burma. Felix Chin said we should open a bank account in Burma and support them with interest that will be generated from the deposit. Shan Khin said the amount of money we currently have is not large enough to do that. Henry Lim added that things are pretty tough in Burma. The nuns need money badly. Delay in sending money will give people an impression that we're rather slow in this matter. Maximus Chin holds the view that we shouldn't send out the money until we know how much money they spend per child per day. Henry Lim said we might have to put this issue to the vote, letting the attendees decide whether we should send money now or keep waiting for the data to come in. The discussion abruptly came to an end when Felix Chin said he would contact Sister Rosary in Burma.
  6. Attendees made a decision to organize a 3-day 2-night trip to Las Vegas. If we travel in a chartered bus, we will depart San Francisco on Thursday, Dec. 7 and come back to San Francisco on Sunday, Dec. 10. If we fly, we will set out on Friday, Dec. 8 and return to San Francisco on Sunday, Dec. 10.
  7. Attendees discussed the feasibility of holding a Wan Hua Reunion Banquet in San Francisco next year. It is the attendees' fervent hope that when the event is held, Wan Hua alumni in and outside the United States will enthusiastically attend the reunion dinner.
  8. The next meeting will be held on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. The place of the meeting will remain the same - Scanlan Hall at St. Thomas More Church in San Francisco.

Recorded by: Henry Lim