Alexander M. and June L. Maisin Foundation – Highlights from Centers’ Reports

Thank you for your generous donation for Holiday Programming, 2008. We were able to enhance our events in many ways because of your support. We had a volunteer Santa and Elves, but small gifts and candy were purchased for distribution to all participants. Printer ink and photo paper were also purchased, so participants were able to take their Santa Photo home! Some of the funds were used to cover a small part of the Holiday Party for staff at a local Chinese restaurant.

The funds were used for a very special Holiday party. The festivities included lunch, treats and gifts for all our participants. Santa was even able to make an appearance to hand out additional gifts and pose for photos. Thank you Maisin Foundation!

Please forward our gratitude to the administrators of the Maisin Foundation. The timing is especially appreciated given the current state of the department of public health budget. This injection of funds allowed the center to celebrate Chinese New Year and African American History Month, two very important areas of celebration for our clients.

The generous funds from the Maisin Foundation allowed us to give our hard-working staff a holiday party. We were not sure if we could even afford a party this year. We decided to have a potluck party where staff brought side dishes and we provided the main meal and wonderful desserts. Staff was each given a small bonus check. This was a welcomed gift since their hours were cut for several months when the state of California cut our MediCal reimbursement. This Maisin Foundation money allowed us to celebrate a good but rough year! We thank you!!!

With the Maisin Foundation’s generous holiday programming support, we were able to bring extra joy to our participants, volunteers and staff during the 2008 holidays. The funds helped us subsidize purchase of Thanksgiving party supplies, appreciation gifts presented to our four (4) dedicated volunteers, holiday dinner for staff and volunteers in a neighborhood restaurant, purchase of shopping totes which were given to the program’s participants, volunteers and staff as Christmas gifts. Everyone appreciated the high quality and environmentally friendly gift.

Thanks to the Maisin Foundation we were able to provide special entertainment, food and beverages for two different family holiday parties. The seniors were able to have their loved ones join us for some holiday cheer, sing, and dancing. We also were able to provide special treats for the days right before the holidays, and again after to continue the celebrating and chase the after holiday blues away. This grant means being able to do things that are beyond what we can normally afford.

We wish to express our heartfelt thanks to the Board and Maisin Foundation for their generous gift towards our Christmas and Chinese New Year holiday celebrations. For Christmas presents we bought each of our 60 participants a green bag, socks(for men), gloves(for women), and a travel size bottle of handwash. They were delighted with the practical nature of the present. Many of them showed up the following day with the green bag. One of them remarked that he could bring it around with him and put his coat in it when it gets warm in the room. The photos show some of the participants at the Christmas party, singing carols, reciting poetry and looking great. We also used the monies to purchase Chinese goodies (rice cakes, cookies, mandarins) for the Chinese New Year party. One of the oldest participant, in her 90s, handed out red packets of $1 each (to symbolize bringing good blessings for the new year) to every participant at the party. Your gift has made the two occasions special. Thank you so much.