2004 Seattle Yee Family Association Annual Meeting

The Seattle Yee Family Association held its 2004 annual meeting on December 2, at 11:00 am at the Sun Ya Restaurant in Chinatown. The agenda items included (1) the construction of the new Wing Luke Asian Museum and its impact on the association physical location, (2) report on the World Yee Convention in Hong Kong, (3) the election of 2005 association officers.

Within the next year or so, renovation of the Kong Yick Building will begin to make room for the new Wing Luke Museum. The current physical location of our association is in the Kong Yick building. This means that our local Yee chapter, among several other associations, will no longer be able to rent spaces, under the current arrangements. The Wing Luke Asian Museum is working with the family associations to think of creative ways to house these associations. Seattle chapter leadership will attend the December 9 community meeting organized by the Wing Luke Asian Museum.

Suey and Fred Yee made a brief report about the 2nd World Yee Convention. Please see separate report on the convention at this site. Hing Ng was elected to another term as President of the Seattle Family Association.

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Seattle Yee Family Association Members Attended the 2nd World Yee Convention in Hong Kong

Five members of the Seattle Yee Family Association attended the 2nd World Yee Convention in Hong Kong from November 14-16, 2004. A total of 400 Yees from the United Stated, Canada, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia came to Hong Kong for the convention. Suey Yee, Linda Yee, Steven Yee, Fred Yee and Clara Cheung of the Seattle chapter participated in the convention activities. Fred Yee attended the delegate meeting, assisting Jim Yee of Vancouver, B.C., Canada in presenting the World Yee Website Project to the convention delegates. The project was officially approved during the delegate meeting. Among the many activities was a visit to the Elegantia College in Sheung Shiu. The construction of the college was made possible with a Hong Kong $9 million donation from the Hong Kong Five Tong Yee Association.. The visit included attending the opening ceremony of the college which has attained excellent academic achievement. The college facilities are well built and represent a true pride to Hong Kong and visiting Yee members. Other activities during the convention included the opening and closing banquets, the touring of the Wong Tai Shin Temple and other local attractions.

Following the convention in Hong Kong, about 300 Yees continued to go into mainland China to visit Toy San, the home and ancestral place for many of the Yees around the world. The three day visits, November 17-19, included visits of several local schools built with donations from Yees around the world. The visits were joyous and exciting, especially to those who visited Toy San for the first time.

The next World Yee Convention will be hosted in 2006 by the U.S. A. Yee Family Association, headquartered in San Francisco. The location of the convention will be Los Angeles, California. It is anticipated another successful convention will be in order.

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Seattle Yee Fung Toy Association Picnic

August 1, 2004 at Woodland Park Stove Area #2

August 1st was a nice, warm summer day for the Seattle Yee Fung Toy Picnic. Following our tradition of many years, this year’s picnic was again held at Seattle’s Woodland Park. Members and friends began arriving to the picnic site soon after 11:00 am. Volunteers from many Yee family members helped setting up the picnic tables, the prize area and got the food ready for lunch.

Chapter President, Uncle Hing Yu, generously donated a whole roast pig. Adviser Suey Yee and other volunteers ordered dishes which included chow main, fried chicken, desserts, fruits and beverages. By noon, we estimated close to 200 people were at the picnic site ready for the festivities to begin.

The picnic began with welcoming remarks by Uncle Hing Yu and Kit Fung Yu. Jim Yee, Chairman of the Vancouver Yee Family Association in Canada drove down with his family and friends to participate in the picnic. Alex Mar and Captain James Yee drove up from Olympia for the event.

While lunch was being served, Fred Yee discussed briefly about this year’s Yee Scholarships. Over twenty students, from kindergarten through Junior in college, received scholarships from the situation totaling $1,700. Another highlight of the picnic was the door prizes drawing which has become very popular over the years.

The Seattle and Vancouver Yees held a youth yurt camp at the Kayak Point Yurt Village, near Marysville, Washington on July 31, the day before the picnic. This was the first time such a camp was organized. There were 23 people participated including 9 youths. The camp was very enjoyable and proved to be a success. There is a plan to organize another camp for 2005.

A welcome dinner was held at 5:30 pm at the Hong’s Garden in Renton for the Vancouver Yees to conclude the activities for the day. We look forward to having the 2005 picnic next year.

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Seattle-Vancouver Youth Camp Photo Report

Six families gathered at the Kayak Point County Park Yurt Village on Saturday afternoon (July 31, 2004), 3 from Vancouver and 3 from Seattle, as well as Uncle Jim and Aunt Jenny who did not stay over night. Two yurts were assigned to the youth (one for the boys and one for the girls), and the rest for the adults and a young family.

We all drove our own cars to the Park, which was easy to locate using the directions from the web site.

Lan did the food planning and Clara helped with the shopping. Everyone helped out with the cooking and cleaning up. We had a whole wild salmon, marinated flank steak, chicken (wings and steak), and very plump sausages on the BBQ for dinner. For breakfast the next morning we had salmon omelet. Everything was delicious!

The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed the walks down to the beach. There were 9 youths ranging in age from 5 to 23. They got along very well and had a lot of fun. Before starting dinner we all sat in a circle. Following a round of self-introductions, Uncle Jim spoke led a discussion on the Yee Fung Toy Family Association.

Yurt cost 6 x $40 + $45 (the one with a deck) = $285
Food cost = $230 Total cost = $515 (all in US dollars).

We plan to get more youth and families out next year, and have booked the 9 yurts for August 13, 2005. We could accommodate 40 people quite comfortably. We will need to promote the camp, especially to the Scholarship stidents, past and present, from both Seattle and Vancouver.

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