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Dana 60th Anniversary

The Toronto Buddhist Church Dana celebrated its 60th Anniversary on Sunday, October 27 with a special service and luncheon attended by 130 Dana members, friends and family. Thank you to the hardworking members of the organizing committee and all who assisted in making this day very special for everyone.

Special thanks to Bishop Aoki for conducting the service and for his message of good wishes. Thank you to Larry Wakisaka for his kind words at the service and for the commendation presented on behalf of the JSBTC, to Dawn Anzai for the recognition from the Board of Directors of TBC and to Myra Takasaki/Darlene Rieger for the special presentation and gift from the Shin Fujinkai.

Much appreciation to Donna Nakano and June Asano for chairing the service and luncheon programs, to Pamela Yoshida who was the organist for the service, to Toivo Knude for taking photos, to Cary Kataoka for driving several Momiji residents to the church and for assisting with the audio/visual equipment and to Sho Michibata for creating the lovely banner for the stage.

Highlights of the day included memories written by long-standing Dana members and read by Carol Katsura; recollections shared by Dana and Maya Ishiura, daughters of the late Mary Ishiura who was the first advisor to the original 1959 Dana; and a wonderful speech by Terrie Komori, the first president of Dana, and who, along with Masa Yoshida, Hedy Yonekura and Alice Uyeda, represented the 35 charter members in the cake-cutting ceremony.

A display of memorabilia from past Dana activities and an interesting slideshow compiled by Judy Nishi brought a real sense of nostalgia to the day.

The Dana Harmonica Band provided some very lighthearted, fun entertainment at the luncheon. We all enjoyed their performance and would like to acknowledge the time and effort spent by the group in putting together their program.

Thank you to everyone who attended the celebrations and for the very generous donations received on this memorable occasion.