Hakka Young People Assocation

The Hakka Association Annual New Year Banquet (客家春節聯歡晚會) has been RESCHEDULED due to New Fortune having double booked that day (the other party is a wedding banquet-- and they're flying lots of people in from Vietnam, so we have opted to not ruin a wedding by rescheduling our event instead). So, the NEW DATE for the banquet is as follows:

Rescheduled to: Saturday, February 2, 2008, 5:30pm

This change may or may not affect you, so if you are unable to attend (or, even better, if you are available now), call or email me to let me know. Remember that if you are going to be there to help out, you need to be there at 3:00pm (unless you have contacted me and let me know otherwise).

There are actually many things that HYPA would be helping out with at the banquet, so the more people who can volunteer, the better. We will need people to do the following:

• Usher - you would help people find their seats in the banquet hall. the ushers also have the added task of being there early to make sure that there are at least 5 programs on each table
• Stereo system maintenance - two people would assist with the stereo/sound/video system throughout the night, alternating in shifts-- this is more behind the scenes-- please note that this would require your assistance starting at 3pm to help set up the equipment, and then again throughout most of the banquet
• Raffle ticket sales - assigned to several tables each, you would be responsible for selling additional raffle tickets to guests who wish to purchase more
• Photographer for the Costumed Masquerader - there will be someone dressed up in costume so that families and people can take pictures with him-- the photographer will take polaroid shots of the guests and be responsible for the donation box (all proceeds from the donations will go to HYPA, so be charming ^__~)

Okay, there will probably various other tasks that we would need to help out with, so the more people who can come, the better.

The following people have volunteered to help out:

• Vivian Lee
• Jonathan Yang
• Jeanne Yang
• Lienhua Lee
• Caroline Tseng*
• Michael Tseng*
• Jessica Jang*
• Jonathan Jang*

*volunteered by your parents. ^_~

Once again, here is the UPDATED New Year's Banquet information:

Host: The Hakka Association
Location: New Fortune (16515 S Frederick Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20877)
Date/Time: Saturday, February 9, 2008
Arrival time for Volunteers/Helpers: 3:00pm

Further information about the food, door prizes, etc., can be found at the Hakka Association website (click here).

Brief recap of the first HYPA meeting:

[*note: the meeting time was moved to 10:30am to accommodate for people who had to catch flights back to school.]

We started off the meeting with introductions and a discussion about the purpose and future planes of HYPA. It may take some time for a solid mission statement to evolve, since the age disparity among members is rather significant (ranging from 12-years to out of college).

Upcoming events/meetings/plans:

1. Our next meeting will be sometime after Christmas and before the Solar New Year. It will probably be Friday, December 28, 2007, but further details about specific time and place will be sent out at a further date, since many members may have to work that day. This may also be our first language lesson.
   
2. February 9, 2008, the Hakka Association (客家同鄉會) will be having their annual Lunar New Year banquet at New Fortune Restaurant (Gaithersburg, off of Rt. 355 - Rockville Pike). They hope that HYPA can help out by providing ushers and performances.
3. A New Year's party- either for the Solar or the Lunar New Years. The time and location are TBD.

Music--
Since many members of HYPA are musically talented, we will be starting a rock band. Eric and Jon have already volunteered themselves, but anyone who is interested in joining or helping out will be welcomed! Please email me (hakka.ypa@gmail.com) for more information. Both Eric and Jon play guitar. There is a potential drummer (Viv's brother, Ryan) and keyboardist (Jeff), but both are unconfirmed.

T-shirts--
We made t-shirts today. White t-shirts with HYPA or Hakka written somewhere. We are still in the process of designing a logo for HYPA.

Promotion of HYPA--
In order to increase membership and awareness of HYPA, more exposure and activity from HYPA is necessary. Involvement in the Hakka Association and in various organizations locally is probably the best way to start. Perhaps reaching out to local high schools' Asian Associations is in order? Several of the younger kids (who did not attend today's meeting - most of the people who came today were in or beyond college) may be able to help with that.
    Also, the University of Maryland's Taiwanese American Student Association has a Night Market every year- we can volunteer or set up a booth (featuring food or games, maybe?). Jon and Shannon will probably be the contact for this.
    Furthermore, we need to get a viable website up and running. Victor also suggested that we update the wikipedia entry on Hakka people.

Further...
More research needs to be (and will be) done about Hakka history and background. Any books or articles about the matter would be helpful! Ask your parents and look in the library for as much information as possible.

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Thanks to everyone who came! I hope to see everyone again soon!

~Jeanne

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to let all of you know that the first HYPA (Hakka Young People Association) meeting will be taking place on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend in the form of a pizza party. It will be on Saturday, November 24, 2007, from 12:30pm to 2:30pm. We will provide pizza and refreshments, etc. Please let me know if you can come-- send an email to hakka.ypa@gmail.com, and I will let you know more details.

Can't wait to see all of you then!!