Alumni Association
Minutes of the 2010 Annual General Meeting

The AGM of the Association was held on May 21 from 6pm at Junkai-kaku Honkan with George Koyama presiding over the meeting.

Alumni Present:
George Koyama, Hideo Nakanishi, Nobuo Uwabe, Franz Metzger, Luke Schnider, Stanley Nemoto, Boon Oyama, Antonio Watanabe, George Hay Suzuki, Dr. Wong Chang, Ryo Hakuta, Eddie Kobayashi, Muneo Fujiwara, Tony Shimoyama, Stacy Akiyama, Tomohiro Kureha, and Maurice Toyama.

1. Treasurer Report
Before the discussion on the 2010 financial report, vote was taken for the approval of the 2009, minutes, including the financial report and these were approved by all alumni present.

2. Treasurer Report
Hideo Nakanishi (Treasurer) made a report on our 2010 financial status. He began by explaining that the balance from 2009 was ¥5,314,868 and after closing the 2010 financial transactions, the balance for 2010 is roughly ¥4,860,000. He highlighted that this downfall of nearly half a million yen is due to the initial costs incurred for setting up the Berrick Hall Archives. Overall, the committee was successful in holding costs despite the archives construction. Majority of the earnings, as can be seen from the financial report below, came from the sales of SJC sweaters, SJC emblems, and donations from bazaar sales.

Question was raised by one of the alumni members as to what the purpose is of the alumni in keeping nearly ¥5,000,000 and where this money originated from. None of the committee members had a clear-cup explanation of how the money came about except that it was probably some kind of a fund for scholarships which was managed by Fr. Gerber. As for the use of the funds in future, it was agreed that it should basically be used to maintain alumni activities such as conserving the Berrick Hall Archives. It was also agreed that if there is worthwhile cause, the committee can put it on the table and discuss. As the fund is depleting every year, there was a discussion about fund raising projects. No new ideas were brought up except that perhaps taking annual dues might help but George Koyama raised concern about dues as it did not work in the past as there were very few supporters.

Vote was taken on the treasurer's 2010 report and it was adopted.

3. 2009 Achievements
President George Koyama spoke on the various achievements of 2009. The annual memorial mass was held on Sept. 23rd at Sacred Heart Cathedral. The SJC Festa was from Nov. 21st to 23rd and attracted large number of visitors. This Festa coincided with the 150 years anniversary of the opening of Yokohama. Musical and paid talk shows were held. ﾒThe Berrick Family Storyﾓ was presented by one of Berrickﾕs descendents, Dr. Malcolm Fredman. He came with his wife from all the way from Melbourne to support this talk show. The other speaker, Mr. Richard Chu (class of 64) who lived at the Berrick Hall during his elementary years, spoke on "Too Close to School". He sacrificed himself by coming all the way from Boston for his presentation.

Special thanks were given to Yuzz Kanda and Jimmy Patterson, who worked very hard and instrumental in setting up the SJC Berrick Archives. The Berrick Hall connections and the city of Yokohama, are very much satisfied with the information supplied by SJC at Berrick Hall.

The 2010 SJC Festa is scheduled from Nov. 20th to 22nd. There will be no evening shows. It will be limited to daytime show, one in the morning and one in the evening. The committee is still working on these matters.

There was a food fair at St. Maur's on April 29th. George Koyama and Boon Oyama participated with an SJC booth. Despite downfall in sales as compared to previous years, they were still able to donate ¥8,000 from the sales to the Alumni.

Another important subject discussed was in regard to the maintenance of "Our Lady of Faith and Fortitude" at the foreign cemetery. According to John Komor,, President of Zaidanhojin Yokohama Gaikojin Bochi, the condition of the statue is around 60 to 70% on a scale of 100. As John was willing to help the Alumni on this refurbishment, he was designated as a sole
caretaker of this project instead of forming a special committee. John will be providing the Alumni with the quotations for the refurbishment.

4. Resignations of officers
All officers (George Koyama, President, Hideo Nakanishi, Treasurer, Nobuo Uwabe, Secretary) tendered in their resignations having served their conditional one year term.

5. Nomination and Election of New Officers
Maurice Toyama (class of 73) volunteered for the President's post. As there were no hands raised for the Treasurer and Secretary's posts, Hideo Nakanishi offered his service again for the Treasury. In the absence of the Secretary, it was agreed by all the attendees that the newly elected President, Maurice Toyama, appoints the Secretary in due course.

The meeting adjourned at 10pm.