Kams' Society Hawaii
Colleen Lee
President
President’s Message
Aloha Kams' Society members, happy Lunar New Year! Many Kams' Society members celebrated the beginning of the lunar new year of the water Rabbit in Chinatown. Thank you to our new 2nd Vice President Lynette Kam who organized us to march in the Chinatown parade. Many thanks to 1st Vice President Wendy Mow, President of See Dai Doo Society, for her kind invitation for us to join See Dai Doo members after the parade. Please see Lynette's report for details. Thank you to our past president Mona McNamara who was serving as our interim 2nd vice president for planning the Christmas Installation Party, our final event of 2022. See Mona's report below for details. Our banquet will be moving back to the spring. It will be on Saturday, May 13, 2023 at Jade Dynasty. We will also be scheduling our Board and General Membership Meetings on Sundays at 12 noon. It was great to reconnect in person as things began to open up last year, and I hope to see more of you at our activities and events this year.
Thank you,
Colleen Lee
Christmas Installation Party As we ring in the New Lunar Year of the Rabbit for 2023 and say Aloha to 2022, my heartfelt gratitude to our members, family and friends for joining in to celebrate our 2022 Installation Christmas Party. It was a fun packed event full of excitement and merriment. About 100 people attended to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Congratulations, as members were installed by Wes Fong for 2023. Hale Ikena at Fort Shafter was our venue for this event on December 4, 2022. We had a delicious buffet lunch, centerpiece giveaways along with lucky numbers, games and a visit by Santa (Daniel Kam) and his Elf (Raquel Fay). Our prizes were handed out by The McNamara Ohana and several other young members from the audience. There were so many hands that helped to make this a successful event. Thank you to Lynette Kam, Jann Ching and Poppy Ing for helping with the registration, Terry Jean Ogawa for helping to dress Santa, Joce Chun, Wes Mow and Wendy Mow-Taira for leading us in Christmas Songs, and Sean McNamara for being our host and emcee. Again, Mahalo for helping to make this event a memorable one! We could not have done this without everyone’s help and cooperation.
Mona A. McNamara, 2022 Interim 2nd Vice President
Wendy M. N. Mow
1st Vice-President
Welfare
Please remember to inform me by email (wendy.mow@gmail.com) or leave a phone message if you know of any illnesses or deaths of Kams’ Society members. Also include your contact information.
Wendy Mow, 1st Vice President
Chinatown Parade On Saturday, January 14, 2023, the Chinese lunar year of the rabbit was welcomed in with forty Kams’ Society members participating in the Chinatown Parade. Everyone wore their red shirts proudly, carried glorious red lanterns, wore cultural hats and/or carried fans. Ten lucky members were able to ride on the Kam’s’ Society float provided by Pineridge Farms Trucking. The parade was well attended by locals and visitors lining the parade route. Following the parade, 31 members dined at See Dai Doo social hall along with See Dai Doo parade participants. This coordinated and collaborative event was created by See Dai Doo President Wendy Mow, and Kams’ Society President Colleen Lee, this allowed our members to enjoy a light dinner and reconnect with friends. Many thanks go out to the people who gave foliage and volunteers who helped to decorate the float on Friday evening and clear the decorations off the float on Sunday! Special thanks go to Georgette and Joaquin Silva who provided the use of the truck used as a float and Westley Mow for creating the year of the Rabbit banner, it was spectacular. Participation of Kams’ Society members is greatly appreciated at this, and all our activities, see you at our next big event, the Spring Banquet.
Please visit our website for more information: http://kamsocietyhawaii.org.
Lynette Kam, 2nd Vice President
Membership & Scholarship
If anyone needs a membership application or has any updates regarding a change in name, email, mailing address, or phone number, please let me know. The scholarship application will be available beginning May 1st. The scholarship application deadline is June 10th. Please email me at lisakam100@gmail.com for any membership updates and membership or scholarship applications .
Lisa Kam, 3rd Vice President