President’s Message

Steve Ichinaga

Every morning when I get up at 4:30 to go to work, I tell myself what a lucky guy I am. I may not repeatedly say Namo Amida Butsu, while taking a hot shower or having a cup of reheated coffee, I may still be thinking about it. There have been times, when I didn’t have a place to go to work and worried about how we were going to pay our monthly bills. Like all things in life, there have been a lot of changes. I now have a job, a roof over my head, food to eat, reasonably good health and like many of you, my savings have gone down the tubes. Several years ago, when things were not going so well, Heather and Ryan started putting something new on their birthday and Christmas wish lists. The first thing on their lists was “a happy and healthy family”. I learned something special about life’s priorities from my kids and it helped me to see things a little clearer.

Even though I wasn’t at the Dana Day- Volunteer Recognition Day Service, I want to thank all of the volunteers who have deservedly received their recognition.

By the time that you read this article, our delegation to the BCA National Council Meeting will have returned. Since it is in Southern California this year, we are sending a smaller than usual delegation in order to minimize our expenses. Like every year since I have been on the church Board of Directors the annual membership assessment has gone up. Even though this burden has been continually increasing, I personally feel that the National Board is doing a terrific job. Next year we will be hosting the National Council/750th Shinran Shonin Memorial Service in San Jose. I hope that every San Jose Betsuin Sangha member can volunteer/participate in some way or another. It’s all about priorities.