NATIONAL PARENTS' DAY IN LAS VEGAS

Mrs. Mimi Morse at the Podium

The Las Vegas National Parents' Day (NPD) observance was held on Saturday July 13, 2013 at the Cambridge Recreation Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mrs. Kimiyo Anceney, WFWP Las Vegas Chairwoman, took the helm to organize, obtain co-sponsors, and find funding for this year's event.

The location was secured in May and then Mrs. Anceney found several groups who caught the vision of NPD, including, but not limited to, the Asian American Group (AAG) and the Asian Community Resource Center (ACRC).

AAG is the largest organization of Asians in Nevada. Mr. Mike Vaswani, President of AAG, and Mrs. Rita Vaswani, Vice President of the Nevada State Bank, agreed to support the event and introduced it to their contacts. Ms. Loni Andal, Vice President of AAG, and Ms. Emily Higby, Director of ACRC, contributed in making the event a great success. In my opinion, the essential factor for this event's success was the creation of the Las Vegas Parents' Day Coalition. It was comprised of AAG, ACRC, ACLC, UPF, WFWP, and FEEF (the Family Education and Empowerment Foundation, headed by Mrs. Mimi Morse).

Through the Parents' Day Coalition, the vast experience and resources of the Asian Community Group and the Asian Resource Center became available to those implementing the event. As a result, four elected officials from the U.S. Congress gave awards to the 10 parents who had been selected to be honored on that day. They were the offices of Senator Harry Reid, Senator Dean Heller, Congressman Joe Heck, and Congresswoman Dina Titus.

Ms. Loni Andal and Ms. Mimi Morse smoothly navigated us through the program as our emcees. The program's main speaker was Dr. Anthony Guerra, who elucidated the history and purpose of National Parents' Day, signed into law by President Clinton in 1994.

The entertainment consisted of several wonderful song selections by Mr. Ted Igarashi, and also by a group of Japanese Taiko drummers, who awed everyone with their performance.

Participating in the program were Rev. Thabiti, who opened with the invocation, and Mrs. Hope Igarashi, who warmly greeted the more than 100 people who attended the program with opening remarks. Those in attendance were honored by having Councilwoman Gerri Schroder of Henderson present a proclamation, and by hearing the closing remarks given by Judge Cheryl Moss, a Family Court Judge in Clark County.

At the end of the program, there was a raffle to raise funds for an organization that helps victims of domestic violence. The overall response of the participants was inspiring, and those who cooperated to make this event a success through the Las Vegas Parents' Day Coalition are looking forward to planning for next year's program.