Concerned About our Future
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Jodi Willis
Feb 17, 2015, 4:06:16 PM2/17/15
to Ada Lee, Ken Nagao, Tita Angie, Love 2015, asiancou...@googlegroups.com, Maria Clark Warren
Dear Asian Council board, Asian Celebration committee members and elders,
There have been several incidents involving our current president Marvy
Schuman that have happened in the last two years that have made me wary of
our organization.
- This began with the untruths Marvy brought to the new Executive Board in
2013 about David Tam that caused us to question his capabilities to chair
the 2014 Asian Celebration, and I believed that the half-truths she fed us
also assisted in Brian Katsura to step down as Treasurer. Everything she
told us was false and was proven with the success of the 2014 and 2015
Asian Celebration.
- As co-chair for Cooking Demonstrations for the past two years, it was
unexpected and very disturbing to be told that Sunrise Asian Market pulled
their sponsorship after 29 years! Marvy’s name was mentioned as the person
responsible for the loss because of the way she handled the situation with
Mr Park (the owner). Her name has been mentioned by employees at Sunrise
that she has been using her status as Asian Council President or Finance
Chair pushing them to give her a discount on groceries and items.
- We also had an issue when finding others in the community to demo for us
this year. They either declined or withdrew once they had known she was
going to be cooking. Some stayed because we informed them that she was only
going to demo not manage the cooking demonstrations.
- Complaints last year and this year as well that Marvy has been
approaching our food vendors and abusing her titles by asking for free food.
- Last year's unfortunate incident with the Korean Church (one of our
major food vendors), the way she was rude and antagonizing with a Korean
elder
- Volunteers refusing to work with her, because she is antagonizing
- Late night text messages from her that demand immediate action, not just
to me but to others as well
- Unprofessional conduct displayed in public during an Executive Board
meeting (ie yelling, being condescending and rude, entertaining the idea
that the reason that her proposal for the Atrium office was being rejected
was because "Asians do not want to work with Blacks")
- Continued defiance about the sale of the t-shirts, demanding that it be
free even though it was explained numerous times that we are a non-profit
organization
- Sending emails to the googlegroup that have nothing to do with Asian
Council or Asian Celebration matters
- Postings on Facebook that should represent the organization as a whole
but in reality are just her personal beliefs and opinions
- As president, placing herself to head the finance committee
- Informing us merely days before the event that her son is also part of
the finance committee
- The final straw was during the Celebration last weekend when she was the
only cooking demo person who was defiant and had to be asked numerous times
to help prep their dish and clean up after. As cooking demo co-chair, I
asked her to be a team player her response was to me was to "SHUT UP".
I wanted to keep silent and had hoped that the situation would improve and
wanted to give her a chance to make amends. But enough is enough. As a new
Asian Council member and my recent acceptance as secretary, at the present
state of the Asian Council and Asian Celebration, I honestly do not feel
comfortable recruiting anyone I know to join our organization with Marvy as
president. I realize that her term will end in April, but I worry about the
future of Asian Celebration, Asian Council and other events. I worry about
this negativity surrounding her, the way she handles certain situations and
the bad impression she's giving the community as she is supposed to
represent us as a whole in her current leadership position .
I have enjoyed participating in both Asian Council and Asian Celebration.
Being an adoptee, I grew up not knowing any Asian traditions, even my own
(being of Vietnamese descent). Now I have a chance to learn about my
heritage and have the wonderful opportunity to have my children learn and
to get involved. However, if people like Marvy are allowed to participate
and poison the water, I will have to consider if I still want to drink from
the well.
I am asking that she step down from her position so that she won't further
damage our organization's reputation.
Respectfully yours,
Jodi Willis
Asian Council interim Secretary
Asian Celebration Cooking Demo Co-Chair
There have been several incidents involving our current president Marvy
Schuman that have happened in the last two years that have made me wary of
our organization.
- This began with the untruths Marvy brought to the new Executive Board in
2013 about David Tam that caused us to question his capabilities to chair
the 2014 Asian Celebration, and I believed that the half-truths she fed us
also assisted in Brian Katsura to step down as Treasurer. Everything she
told us was false and was proven with the success of the 2014 and 2015
Asian Celebration.
- As co-chair for Cooking Demonstrations for the past two years, it was
unexpected and very disturbing to be told that Sunrise Asian Market pulled
their sponsorship after 29 years! Marvy’s name was mentioned as the person
responsible for the loss because of the way she handled the situation with
Mr Park (the owner). Her name has been mentioned by employees at Sunrise
that she has been using her status as Asian Council President or Finance
Chair pushing them to give her a discount on groceries and items.
- We also had an issue when finding others in the community to demo for us
this year. They either declined or withdrew once they had known she was
going to be cooking. Some stayed because we informed them that she was only
going to demo not manage the cooking demonstrations.
- Complaints last year and this year as well that Marvy has been
approaching our food vendors and abusing her titles by asking for free food.
- Last year's unfortunate incident with the Korean Church (one of our
major food vendors), the way she was rude and antagonizing with a Korean
elder
- Volunteers refusing to work with her, because she is antagonizing
- Late night text messages from her that demand immediate action, not just
to me but to others as well
- Unprofessional conduct displayed in public during an Executive Board
meeting (ie yelling, being condescending and rude, entertaining the idea
that the reason that her proposal for the Atrium office was being rejected
was because "Asians do not want to work with Blacks")
- Continued defiance about the sale of the t-shirts, demanding that it be
free even though it was explained numerous times that we are a non-profit
organization
- Sending emails to the googlegroup that have nothing to do with Asian
Council or Asian Celebration matters
- Postings on Facebook that should represent the organization as a whole
but in reality are just her personal beliefs and opinions
- As president, placing herself to head the finance committee
- Informing us merely days before the event that her son is also part of
the finance committee
- The final straw was during the Celebration last weekend when she was the
only cooking demo person who was defiant and had to be asked numerous times
to help prep their dish and clean up after. As cooking demo co-chair, I
asked her to be a team player her response was to me was to "SHUT UP".
I wanted to keep silent and had hoped that the situation would improve and
wanted to give her a chance to make amends. But enough is enough. As a new
Asian Council member and my recent acceptance as secretary, at the present
state of the Asian Council and Asian Celebration, I honestly do not feel
comfortable recruiting anyone I know to join our organization with Marvy as
president. I realize that her term will end in April, but I worry about the
future of Asian Celebration, Asian Council and other events. I worry about
this negativity surrounding her, the way she handles certain situations and
the bad impression she's giving the community as she is supposed to
represent us as a whole in her current leadership position .
I have enjoyed participating in both Asian Council and Asian Celebration.
Being an adoptee, I grew up not knowing any Asian traditions, even my own
(being of Vietnamese descent). Now I have a chance to learn about my
heritage and have the wonderful opportunity to have my children learn and
to get involved. However, if people like Marvy are allowed to participate
and poison the water, I will have to consider if I still want to drink from
the well.
I am asking that she step down from her position so that she won't further
damage our organization's reputation.
Respectfully yours,
Jodi Willis
Asian Council interim Secretary
Asian Celebration Cooking Demo Co-Chair
Marvy Schuman
Feb 17, 2015, 5:02:03 PM2/17/15
to AC2013, Ada Lee, Ken Nagao, Tita Angie, Love 2015, Maria Clark Warren
Dear Jodi:
Thank you for this very colorful enumeration of all my shortcomings. I do appreciate the time you've taken in thinking a lot about me. I know you're hurting and angry at me over personal issues and it's sad that you only choose to see one side of the matter, and this instance, the small things that hurt and damage the organization instead of seeing the good that we have done thus far. Remember what I said in the beginning of our Council meetings? WE are all a team with different personalities and issues and it would be wonderful if we can play up each other's talents. That's when I asked everyone to fill out my TALENT BANK form. The success of one is the success of ALL.
Believe me, I can't wait to step down from my position, but will not do so until I finish my commitment to my finance team as well as the others who count on me. If you volunteer to take over and I see you fit for the task, then it's yours and I can go fishing!
I trust you are ready to take over a lot of details then in preparation for the turnover and the general assembly meeting we will need to have in conjunction with the appreciation dinner for our volunteers. Next month would be a perfect month, and if you can accelerate this matter, please do so.
All our minutes from the beginning of our term should be updated and ready to uploaded as PDF on our site or googlegroups. We do need to comply with bylaws, and I look to you as our secretary to direct us in that manner and to see to our compliance with the state requirements. I will also redirect the mail to go back to the post office box after we have collected our receivables. So the key will be turned over to you for you to check on a weekly basis. So it's time to please coordinate to find us a venue. Mike Takahashi can help with the Longhouse unless you have a better venue in mind that can accommodate a large crowd.
Please contact Misa Joo, who is still our elections committee chair, and perhaps Anselmo Villanueva, if he is able to attend the general assembly meeting, too.
You will please need to send an invite to the updated membership directory you said you were going to finish compiling after the celebration. There are a few new members, and I believe the forms would be with Chau. I would suggest that this list be merged with AAFO's, so please coordinate with their secretary to inquire if this is a good idea.
Lastly, and forgive me if I am presuming this, I believe you will be staying on with the new board, and therefore, would ask that you be the point person for me to turn over the items that belong to Council that are in my custody. We have a few equipment housed with me that are in our accountability sheet that are not fit to be kept in storage because of damage.
Thank you for your hard work. I see the great potential in you when you redirect your energy into more positive things.
Sincerely,
Marvy
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MARVY SCHUMAN
Happy Soul
Happy Soul
Asian Council, President
Asian Celebration 2015
Advertising, Sponsorship & Finance Committee
Shann Ormsbee
Feb 17, 2015, 5:39:50 PM2/17/15
to asiancou...@googlegroups.com, Ada Lee, Ken Nagao, Tita Angie, Love 2015, Maria Clark Warren
Greetings:
As a board member of the Asian Council, Asian American Foundation of Oregon and committee chair of the Youth Room/Children’s Carnival for the Asian Celebration I want to express my sincere apology for the unprofessional email that many of you have received. I hope that these disputes do not tarnish the vision of why we have the Asian Celebration and what the Asian Council stands for. Our mission “is to create opportunities which foster friendship and harmonious relations among all people by presenting events and activities that will stimulate a better understanding of Asian and Asian-American cultures.” The reputation of our organization holding true to our mission statement is damaged when there is internal conflict, and instead of trying to mediate and continue to foster those relationships positively, the issues are put on display for everyone to see, true or untrue.
I believe that these types of accusations and disputes needed to be handled internally and investigated in an objective manner. Depending on the development of the investigation, then a formal announcement would be made if, and only if, substantiated evidence proved that the behavior of the Asian Council President was unprofessional and the person usurped their position of power inappropriately.
Unfortunately, this email has put me in the uncomfortable position to speak to these accusations publicly. From my perspective, many of the issues that have come to pass stem mostly from personality conflicts as opposed to inefficiencies in leadership. I am a newer member, but I recall the state of the Asian Council when I first began two years ago. Due to a shortage of enough people being able to shoulder the responsibility of all that comes along with both the Asian Council and Asian Celebration duties there were many issues with the organization of files and financials. Once Marvy, Chau, and many others took it upon themselves to work to address these issues, we are seeing the results of the hard-work of many, to have a mechanism that is both transparent and efficient and provides a succession plan to support the future leadership to be able to replicate the successes of these changes.
In regards to the inflammatory remarks directly aimed at our current President, I have yet to see evidence of many of these accusations. I hope that in the future, these types of accusations that negatively impact the reputation of the entire Asian Council and Asian Celebration is addressed more professionally in the future.
Best Regards,
As a board member of the Asian Council, Asian American Foundation of Oregon and committee chair of the Youth Room/Children’s Carnival for the Asian Celebration I want to express my sincere apology for the unprofessional email that many of you have received. I hope that these disputes do not tarnish the vision of why we have the Asian Celebration and what the Asian Council stands for. Our mission “is to create opportunities which foster friendship and harmonious relations among all people by presenting events and activities that will stimulate a better understanding of Asian and Asian-American cultures.” The reputation of our organization holding true to our mission statement is damaged when there is internal conflict, and instead of trying to mediate and continue to foster those relationships positively, the issues are put on display for everyone to see, true or untrue.
I believe that these types of accusations and disputes needed to be handled internally and investigated in an objective manner. Depending on the development of the investigation, then a formal announcement would be made if, and only if, substantiated evidence proved that the behavior of the Asian Council President was unprofessional and the person usurped their position of power inappropriately.
Unfortunately, this email has put me in the uncomfortable position to speak to these accusations publicly. From my perspective, many of the issues that have come to pass stem mostly from personality conflicts as opposed to inefficiencies in leadership. I am a newer member, but I recall the state of the Asian Council when I first began two years ago. Due to a shortage of enough people being able to shoulder the responsibility of all that comes along with both the Asian Council and Asian Celebration duties there were many issues with the organization of files and financials. Once Marvy, Chau, and many others took it upon themselves to work to address these issues, we are seeing the results of the hard-work of many, to have a mechanism that is both transparent and efficient and provides a succession plan to support the future leadership to be able to replicate the successes of these changes.
In regards to the inflammatory remarks directly aimed at our current President, I have yet to see evidence of many of these accusations. I hope that in the future, these types of accusations that negatively impact the reputation of the entire Asian Council and Asian Celebration is addressed more professionally in the future.
Best Regards,
On Tue, Feb 17, 2015 at 1:06 PM, Jodi Willis <vietblon...@gmail.com> wrote:
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