Lilian Kawaratani, community activist, will talk about the experiences of Asian-Pacific people for “Asian American Heritage Month” at the Tuesday, May 23rd meeting of the East Los Angeles-Montebello BPW at Marie Callender’s, 220 S. Atlantic Blvd., Monterey Park (Networking starts at 4:30 p.m. with dinner/meeting by 5:00 p.m.). The program and dinner is open to all interested people. Call or E-mail Linda Wilson (626) 307-5650 or lindalwilson@juno.com to make a reservation or for questions. The program is free and open to all interested people.

Kawaratani is an active community volunteer. Before retiring she taught for 18 years for the Adult Education Division of the Alhambra School District for 18 years. While her children were in school she was a Brownie and Girl Scout leader. She was

involved in the financing, purchasing and installation of playground equipment at Repetto Elementary School. She helped to restart the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Monterey Park and volunteered at the festival for many years. Most of her volunteer work involved the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Memorial Library. She was actively involved in the passage of Measure C, which helped fund the addition to the library which doubled its size and also funded Sunday hours of opening. She and her husband Yukio were major donors to the library and the ground floor wing of the library is named in their honor. She helped rejuvenate the Friends of the Library and has served as its Treasurer since then. She started and taught as a volunteer the citizenship class at the library until the pandemic. She also tutored and mentored members of the class to help them become citizens of the United States. Probably more than 100 people owe their citizenship to Kawaratani’s efforts.

Kawaratani grew up in Hawaii and left there to attend college on the East Coast. Kawaratani has received numerous awards for her volunteer work including East Los Angeles-Montebello BPW’s “Woman of the Year for 2021.”

For more information about BPW, this program and to make a reservation, call Linda Wilson at (626) 307-5650 or E-mail lindalwilson@juno.com.