Dear KOSC Membership,
Let me start by first saying how excited I am to be leading such a great organization. I am proud to serve all of you as we work toward improving our military and Okinawan communities. Over the last year, our organization donated $17,700 to worthwhile Okinawan charities to purchase items like wheelchair lifts, hospice necessities, and orphanage supplies. We also supported many military agencies, high school teams, choirs, and booster clubs, just to name a few, with our combined donations of over $37,000. And, finally, we gave $24,000 to 17 deserving scholarship candidates. That's over $78,000! All of these donations would not be possible without all of your volunteer hours at the Gift Corner, and all of your purchases! Some of you even volunteered to watch children so someone else could volunteer. It is this spirit that makes our organization so great.
On a more personal level, I am so happy to have met so many wonderful people through KOSC. In addition to charitable giving, KOSC is about meeting friends. We do that through many fun opportunities like bowling, supper club, bunko, and crud, and that's not all! There's golf, mah jong, lunch bunch, and tennis too. If you haven't tried any of these clubs, you're missing out on a great opportunity to make Kadena just a little smaller. Of course, we also had our monthly socials, including costume Bunko, kimono fashion show, and Bingo.
As we head into our new KOSC fiscal year, I encourage you to renew your membership and see how you can benefit from KOSC and how KOSC can benefit from your talents. In fact, right now, we are still in need of a few motivated members to take on board positions including Scholarships, Ways and Means, and Special Events. We'd even love to have committees of people to do these jobs, if you want to team up with a friend or two! If you're interested in one of these exciting positions, please e-mail me at jascle@aol.com.
Which brings me to my last point. Since our Sakura Editor position was just recently filled, our summer issue of the Sakura will not be distributed until July. We're hoping that with the added time, we can make some substantial changes that will benefit the organization and our many Okinawan friends. Again, if you would like to be involved in the new look of the Sakura, please e-mail me.
Our organization is strong and we will only get stronger. The gift corner is poised to increase sales, our charitable giving is increasing, and we're offering great special activities for everyone. The 2010-2011 year promises to be a great year. I look forward to working with all of you!
Sincerely,
Laura Leffel
President, KOSC 2010-2011
