Al Sakai, retired Richmond teacher and principal, is busier than ever.
Upon arriving, he was so happy to see how many people he knew here.
He was happy to share his Steveston story as well as his life philosophy.
Al thanked us for the Paul Harris award although is embarrassed to receive an individual award because he always promotes teamwork. He was assured that The Steveston Society would also receive an award.
He thanked us for the introduction and for the opportunity to listen to the Sergeant at Arms sharing, which made him feel comfortable, as he heard the genuine love and care that exists in our club. Everything in the world is about love or lack of love.
When things go awry, it’s usually because people are feeling excluded, or not welcomed. Sometimes it’s an arm around the shoulder or even tough love that will help others accept difficult situations.
Everything Al does in society and in the community is based on love. There are infinite ways to show love. He is hoping for the best for Larry and Melinda’s John.
Because he believes that at the base of everything is love, he relished his role as a school principal, caring for kids, staff and parents in the community, especially at Hamilton where the people sometimes felt excluded, being so far away. Christmas concerts out there were tremendous and he felt loved and appreciated.
Al spent his entire life in Steveston, going to Lord Byng and Steveston High School. He only knew about fishing or schools, so rather than standing in fish guts for the rest of his life, he decided to become a teacher.
He was involved in judo for 50 plus years and is now president of the club. This year is the 50th anniversary of the cultural arts centre.
His two daughters are Alanna and Carly and he has two grandsons, Wade and Remi, so there is a lot of drama and joy.
Carly’s new baby is 6 months old, and the family lives with Al at the front of the house, with 90 year old mom at the back.
Retirement is the best invention – better than the wheel or fire. How wonderful to be able to enjoy life. His mom says, that, in spite of the internment years, Canada is still the best place. His mom still speaks Japanese, and could live every day only speaking Japanese.
The Steveston Community Society has a board to run it, making decisions on finances, programming, budgeting and park areas, etc., with a vision to try to keep Steveston in its pioneer spirit.
Al is also president of the Richmond Agricultural and Industrial society, which is 100 years old and looks after the salmon festival, market, and other activities. Why they are separate? Al doesn’t know, but he knows that there are double meetings!
The Market has 50-60 vendors, with 120 on a waiting list they can’t fit in. There are 10 markets from May to September, collecting $2000 every week from vendor fees, but what is most important is bringing the community together, with people meeting people, it is more a gathering place than a commercial event. Richmond City put up booths last time to show plans for the new community center and dyke plans. Al is feeling good about the plans.
This year the Salmon Festival (75th) (missed 2 years during Covid) was throughout the village, with zones, spread out entertaining and people felt safe and there was plenty of room for the 80-100 000 people. Many said they missed the parade and the chow mein booth. They’ll need extra help for next year (so keep your eyes and ears open for help requests).
We can go to Let’s talk Richmond for information on new projects, including the new community centre. The current community centre was built on funds raised by the original salmon festival and was built when Japanese Canadians came back from the internment, so their children had a place to play together. At that time, the Caucasian community wanted to build it together, and the Japanese community held on to their vision of rooms for judo and kendo.
Back in those days, the returning Japanese population was menaced with segregation but the teachers and community of the time fought for integration. The children all played together, white and Japanese, a great example of cultures coming together and respecting each other. What a good reason to continue the Salmon Festival as a symbol of that coming together.
There is also a Playground project underway, which started 12 years ago and requires lots of meetings. For Al, it feels like so much is going on!
Al shared the data collected through the MDI research (middle schools demographic information) wherein the B.C. Government, together with school districts, surveys students to find out how they are doing. You can download some of the results for Grades 5 and 8 at https://earlylearning.ubc.ca/school-district/richmond/
The surveys focus on the social, physical and mental well-being of our children and indicate how important is the work done by Rotary and the Steveston Society to support our children and help them thrive. There is some Interesting data, with children in Richmond self reporting that 30% feel they are thriving, 30% are somewhat thriving and 40% are not thriving. This is less optimistic than the provincial results. It focuses also on optimism, empathy, happiness and the absence of sadness, and while the data says most children are doing fairly well, at least 20% report feeling sad.
How can we help these children? Connections with adults are important and research tells us that children need at least 3 adults who care about them, which may help them avoid drugs and gangs. These connections often happen at community centres, clubs and sports teams and schools. For instance, which teaching judo is important at the judo club, more important is the connections that children make with their instructors.
Research also tells us that there are 4 assets needed for physical, social and mental health: Adult and peer relationships, healthy nutrition, adequate sleep and after-school activities. This is what we all need. The community centres strive to provide this.
At the Paul Harris event, Al heard about all the wonderful activities that are being done in the community – making our communities healthier and safer.
Al is also conscious of the importance of sharing narratives and has a website called Narrativeknowing.com He thinks about how to organize life – into stories and to use a narrative format to organize one’s life.
In summary, everything is about love or lack of love.
Thank you for such an inspirational, narrative presentation, Al!
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