SAN FRANCISCO — Japantown-based senior service organization Kimochi Inc. announces the Mary Ishisaki Challenge Grant to support the Kimochi San Mateo Capital Campaign.
For every dollar raised for the Kimochi San Mateo Capital Campaign until May 17, 2014, Mary Ishisaki, Kimochi board member and community leader, has offered to match the gift, dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000.
Kimochi has completed purchase of a building at 453 N. San Mateo Dr. in San Mateo. From this new base, Kimochi will extend the Japanese tradition of care to San Mateo County seniors and their families. Kimochi is kicking off a capital campaign to raise $2.5 million for construction and equipment.
“The Challenge Grant is a wonderful opportunity to give, and in essence doubles your giving,” says Sandy Mori, Capital Campaign co-chair and founder of Kimochi. “We are really pushing to make the Kimochi San Mateo project a success for the families and seniors of San Mateo County, and every gift counts. It is not an easy time to raise money, but we are doing it a dollar at a time to extend our support to Peninsula seniors and their caregivers.”
Ishisaki is a long-time volunteer at Kimochi Home, and the organization holds great meaning to her. “My late husband, Ben, and I believed in the Kimochi programs offered, and after 20 years of volunteering for the organization, I know this is the perfect next step for Kimochi to expand into San Mateo County,” she said. “I hope you will join me in accomplishing this goal.”
To submit a gift before the deadline, donate online at www.kimochi-inc.org and designate the gift to Kimochi San Mateo. For any questions, contact Anna Sawamura Higaki at asawamura@kimochi-inc.org.
Kimochi Inc. is a nationally recognized 501(c)3 organization. Since 1971, it has provided culturally sensitive, Japanese language-based programs and services to 3,000 Bay Area seniors and their families each year. Services include transportation; referral and outreach services; health and consumer education seminars; healthy aging and senior center activities; social services; congregate and home delivered meals; in-home support services; adult social day care; 24-hour residential and respite care — all of which allow the elderly to live with dignity and independence.
Plans for the new site in San Mateo County:
* Kimochi San Mateo is open to seniors of all ethnicities with focus on Japanese and Japanese-speaking senior population.
* Current plan is to house 14 seniors for ambulatory and non-ambulatory care (wheelchair accessible).
* Community space to be built out for social services; future plans to include transportation and adult social day care, home delivered meals.
* The model of care for Kimochi San Mateo is Kimochi Home, a residential and respite care facility based in San Francisco’s Japantown, which was established in 1983 and provides for 20 ambulatory seniors.
* Bay-Area based HKIT Architects, a leader in the field of senior housing, has been retained to spearhead renovations and upgrade the facility.