Week with Yu Ai Kai

We had an opportunity to work with Yu Ai Kai, the local senior center. I honestly had a lot of fun here. Getting the chance to work here with the other volunteers a humbling experience. Setting aside time to help out others isn't something that we, as the society that we are now, don't do nearly enough. When I was in high school we had Key Club, a volunteering club, but sometimes the good work done felt like it was lost in the college applications it looked good on. The simple act of doing something for others without asking for anything in return isn't something you see all too often, but this is an entire establishment based on that idea. Japantown as a whole really has that energy of giving more that that you take. A couple weeks before working with the Yu Ai Kai we got a chance to speak with Ryan Kawamoto about working as the executive director of the center. Nothing he spoke about was about how much he was taking from the experience and how it has affected him. He talked about how much the center is giving back and how they can give more.
As a whole, this is something that came from everyone in this community. No one talked about how much they've taken from their experiences or what they've accomplished, in the self-praising way. The members of this community concerned themselves with how they could make it better for everyone else. I'm so grateful that I have had a chance to meet them all and look to them as role models.