KANSHA OBON II

Dance for our seniors a success!

At Kansha Obon II, Dr. Kensaku Nakayama and members of the Sakura Intermediate Care Facility Family Council speak to the audience about the stress and trauma faced by their relatives as a result of Pacifica Companies greed-driven cruelty.

* * * Rafu Shimpo Coverage of Kansha Obon II – Saturday, August 7, 2021 * * *

With members of the community seeking relief from the lack of obon festivals during the pandemic, safe masking and distancing protocols were honored for a community gathering to “dance for our seniors” on August 7, 2019 in front of the Japanese American National Museum.
Opening with the sounds of East L.A. Taiko, emcee Tamlyn Tomita let a program of numerous speakers who addressed the concerns of seniors facing imminent eviction at the Sakura Intermediate Care Facility (ICF) in Boyle Heights at the hands of Pacifica Companies.

(This was the video as it was live-streamed to Facebook, courtesy of Steven Gibson of Progressive Asian Network for Action (PANA), a staunch supporter and member group of Save Our Seniors Network: https://youtu.be/02Rkn33IlBw)

200 letters in support of AB 279 were signed at the Save Our Seniors Network table AND Los Angeles City Mayor Eric Garcetti and CA State Senator Maria Elena Durazo signed a petition to Pacifica Companies which is to be delivered to Pacifica staff at 325 S. Boyle Ave. this Friday, August 13 at 6PM. The petition reads:

“We call upon the Ash Israni family to recognize the inhumanity of evicting 80, 90 and 100-year-old Japanese and Japanese American elders from their home and eliminating neighborhood jobs –trading people for profit.

Improve the quality of life of this Sakura community.

Keep Sakura ICF open and guarantee remaining and future ICF residents a secure home at Sakura Gardens Assisted Living where both private-pay and Medi-Cal eligible elders will not again be forced out.”