Dear Chamber Members,

At our very successful annual Spring Banquet in April, I quoted an Okinawan proverb that says "when we meet and talk we are brothers and sisters." So my brothers and sisters please come to Chinatown often so we can meet and talk. With that in mind I would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to come and visit with us at our Summertime Mixer July 22 at the Asian Cultural Center from 5:30pm to 7:00pm. We will be recognizing a few long time Chamber volunteers. The Chamber will be hosting so just come, have a good time and feel free to bring a friend with you. For those who have not been to Chinatown lately, you will be surprised by the changes here. We have a Chinatown we are proud of. Hope to see many of you at the mixer. If you cannot attend our mixer please plan on attending our annual summer Chinatown StreetFest, August 23 & 24. We expect 100,000 people, meeting and talking and of course spending money here in our neighborhood keeping our community vibrant.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Carl Chan, President of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber Foundation and Arlene Lum for organizing a very successful China Earthquake Relief fundraiser. Over $20,000 was raised by the Chamber Foundation to help earthquake victims in China. Thank you Carl & Arlene and everyone who donated and helped.

Finally, I was honored to be interviewed by 18 Coro Exploring Leadership Youth Fellows. They were all 11th graders from various East Bay schools doing a project called the Logic of Oakland Chinatown. Their final report to the community at the Asian Cultural Center was very well done. It is good to know that there are so many potential future leaders in our high schools today. I ended my interview with the Coro interns by quoting Mohandas Gandhi asking each of them to "be the change that you want to see in this world". Hopefully it is what we will also do my brothers and sisters!

Have a good Beijing Olympics Summer everyone.

Francis Lan, OCCC President