Community 2021
❀ Year End Group Purchase
12/21/2021: Towards the end of the year, in order to thank the community members for their support to CALex and the community, CALex continued its tradition and organized a group purchase of 150 phoenix chickens.
❀ Second Round of Application for President’s Volunteer Service Award
12/11/2021: LexYouth is now offering the second round of PVSA application for newly qualified volunteers. The application deadline is 12/31/2021. Here are the application guide and the application form.
❀ 2021 National K-12 Grade Chess Championship
12/06/2021: Three of LexYouth chess teachers went to Orlando for the chess tournament of the National K-12 Grade Championship, all three won the medals, and one of them is a co-champion for the 8th grade.
❀ LexYouth One Year Anniversary
12/01/2021: It is LexYouth’s first anniversary. Thanks for the hard work of the 100+ youth teachers and volunteers and the support from parents! Over the past year, the program has accumulated over 2,500 hours of volunteer time through tutoring younger students and participating in various community activities, and donated more than $5,000 to the community.
❀ Lions Club Thanksgiving Food Delivery
11/25/2021: This Thanksgiving CALex members and their families continued the tradition of previous years and again participated in the food delivery of the Lexington Lions Club to the senior apartments and other senior residents in the town. The seniors were very happy to see children coming to deliver meals. A few seniors also gave out some small gifts, and the children were so happy with them.
❀ Quock Walker Day Testimony
11/10/2021: After CALex members participated in the Quock Walker Day Hike for Freedom organized by ABCL on July 10th, CALex members again testified in the public hearing to support Bill H.3117 / S.2059 (An Act designating July 8 as Massachusetts Emancipation Day a.k.a. Quock Walker Day) proposed by Rep. Michelle Ciccolo and Senator Cindy Friedman. Here are their speeches.
❀ President’s Volunteer Service Award Ceremony
11/06/2021: Students, parents, and CALex volunteers gathered in Lexington on Nov. 6 to grant President’s Volunteer Service Awards to LexYouth volunteer teachers. Five students received a Gold Award, two students received a Silver Award, and eight students received a Bronze Award.
❀ Face to Face with Writer Charles Yu
11/03/2021: Everyone is welcome to attend the meeting with writer Charles Yu that will be held at Lexington High School on November 3rd. Charles Yu’s novel Interior Chinatown won the 2020 American Book Awards. CALex is one of the co-sponsors of this meeting.
❀ LexYouth Halloween Online Photo Exhibition
11/2/2021: Thanks to the folks who have already shared the pictures. The children and adults’ costumes were very creative. Link to the photo exhibition: http://lexyouth.org/?page_id=939. Special thanks to the sixth grader Eric Gu for suggesting and promoting this event. Here is the video Eric made for the Exhibition.
❀2021 Lions Club Coat Drive
10/16/2021: With winter just around the corner, the Lexington Lions Club is collecting winter coats for families in need. Just like past years, a CALex core member assisted in organizing and publicity.
❀ Lexington Re-Discovery Day
10/09/2021: CALex and LexYouth participated in the Re-Discovery Day in Lexington.
❀ National AAPI solidarity 5K Walk
10/03/2021: CALex members participated in the National AAPI Solidarity 5K Walk in Boston to oppose discrimination against AAPI members.
❀ Public Hearing Opposing the Third Data Disaggregation Bill H3115
09/28/2021: Called by CALex and other organizations, a large number of people participated in the public hearing against the third data disaggregation bill H3115. There were more than 40 speakers who opposed it, with only 10 supporters. Another 70 did not specify position when registering, but most of them should be against the bill (there are many familiar names). Some CALex members created an FAQ for the reference of the public and the Joint Committee members who have questions or need clarification.
❀ School Info Session with New Parents
09/01/2021: CALex invited several enthusiastic parents and students to introduce Lexington elementary and middle schools to new parents in the form of questions and answers.
❀ Youth Masks Group Purchase
08/12/2021: The start of school in the fall is just around the corner, and news reports have shown an upward trend in the number of COVID cases among school-age children. CALex helped the community to group purchase KN95 children’s masks for 5-10 year old children, hoping to provide some help to parents who are worried about returning to school in the fall and winter.
❀ Summer Outdoor Dancing Party
7/31/2021: CALex worked with Bailemos Dance Studio to combine the enthusiasm of national standard dance with parent-child activities and bring it into our community.
❀ Meeting with Lexington Historical Society
07/23/2021: A few days ago, some members of CALex and Lexington Historical Society held a social meeting in the town center.
❀ Mental health and Related Community Services
7/22/2021: July is the Minority Mental Health Month. CALex worked with the Human Services Department of Lexington to provide this communication opportunity to Chinese residents of the town, introducing the relevant services provided by the Department of Mental Health and Public Services to the residents.
❀ Mathematics Parent-child Lecture by American Olympiad Coach Boshen Luo
07/17/2021: The head coach of the US Olympic Mathematical team, Boshen Luo, once again came to Boston to hold a wonderful math parent-child activity, which was organized by CALex.
❀Quock Walker Day Hike for Freedom
7/10/ 2021: the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington
(ABCL) hosted the first annual Quock Walker Day Hike for Freedom. This
inter-generational event is an opportunity for Lexington residents and other friends of liberty to celebrate Massachusetts Emancipation Day while enjoying the sites along ACROSS Lexington Route M. CALex members joined the activity.
❀ Lexington 4th of July Carnival
7/2-7/5, 2021: the Lexington Lions Club held a grand carnival in the town, which was loved and welcomed by many families and children. Helen Yang, a member of CALex and the Lions club, is responsible for volunteer recruitment and promotion to all residents in the town.
❀ Remembering Vincent Chin
6/23/2021: CALex member Helen Yang gave a speech on behalf of AAER at the Vincent Chin Memorial held by The Chinese American Heritage Foundation (CAHF) and the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Boston Lodge (CACA Boston).
❀ LEF Summer Fundraiser
6/12/2021: to support the community, CALex sponsored LEF’s summer fundraiser, “Hunt4Fun.” CALex was in charge of the last stop of Hunt4Fun.
❀ National Solidarity against AAPI Hate
5/31/2021: the “Solidarity against AAPI Hate” rally initiated by Wilson Lee of the Chinese American Heritage Foundation (CAHF), co-sponsored by Asian organizations including CALex, was held in Boston Common.
❀ My American Story
05/20/2021: In celebration of the AAPI Heritage Month 2021, CALex invited speakers of Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean and Filipino descent to share their wonderful American stories.
❀ Discussion with Police Department about Firearms License
5/15/2021: A CALex member went to the Lexington Police Department to discuss and to help streamline the application process of firearms license for Chinese American residents. Firearms License Info & Forms Lexington, MA
❀ AAPI History for LPS K-12 Education
05/11/2021: Some CALex members met with Assistant Superintendent Dr. Lyons and her team (History and Social Studies Department Heads of Lexington High School, Middle school and Elementary School) to discuss AAPI History for LPS K-12 Education. It was a productive meeting and great to see all the educators are supportive and willing to work together to make LPS be more inclusive and successful. We share the same goal that teaching AAPI history in K-12 is to help the younger generation build the mindset that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are Americans, they are not foreigners nor threatening outsiders. We also hope LPS can set an example of AAPI history education which can be shared by other school districts across the state or even the nation. We are looking forward to next conversation.
❀ LexYouth: Youth Teacher Training Series #2
05/19/2021: LexYouth hosted the second session of its teacher training series program.
❀ Uncovering Anti-Asian Racism
05/07/2021: LexPride hosted the Uncovering Anti-Asian Racism event for the Asian American community. CALex was invited to give an opening speech.
❀ Support 107th Patriots’ Day Road Race
05/06/2021: CALex is honored to be a silver sponsor for the 107th Patriots’ Day Road Race organized by Lexington Lions Club.
❀ Support Lexington Rotary Club and Donate to Lexington Food Pantry
05/06/2021: CALex has responded to the call to work with Rotary Club and has donated another $200 after having already donated a large amount to the town’s food pantry.
❀ LEF COVID-19 Management Fund
05/06/2021: CALex joined LEF to present a check for over $55K to Dr. Julie Hackett and David Coelho at the Lexington Public School Central Office. CALex’s LexYouth program donated $2,500 to LEF COVID-19 Management Fund for Saliva Pool-Testing on Jan 31, 2021.
❀ Support India Fighting COVID-19
05/03/2021: India is experiencing the world’s worst COVID-19 outbreak. CALex took quick action, shared the monetary donation information with the community, and donated the PPEs that were reserved for community use from last year in preparation for the potential second wave of COVID-19 in the US. Deepika Sawhney responded quickly and worked on all the communication, coordination, repackaging, and shipment to India. All of this was done in one day. The PPEs included 700 surgical N95, 540 KN95, 100 protective suits, and 1500 gloves.
❀ LexYouth: Youth Teacher Appreciation Day
05/01/2021: LexYouth successfully held the first youth teacher appreciation event in Lexington Hastings Park.
❀ AAPI Book Collection of Cary Library
4/23/2021: AAPI Book collection information of Cary library: Recently, a member of CALex community had a meeting with Alissa Lauzon, director of the youth department of the library, and learned that Cary library has rich collections of Asian American English books, including all English books recommended by the WeChat account “Growth Cooperative.” Information about Asian American book collections in the library can be found here.
❀ Community Safety Conversation
04/28/2021: With the concerns about community safety due to the spike of anti-Asian racism and hate crimes, CALex worked with Lexington Police Department, Lexington Human Services Department, and Lexington Recreation and Community Programs Department to conduct the Community Safety Conversation with Lexington residents. The video recording is available at LexMedia: Community Safety Conversation.
❀ LexYouth: Youth Teacher Training Series #1
04/21/2021: LexYouth successfully hosted the first session of its teacher training series program.
❀ Stop Asian Hate Sign Distribution
In early April, 2021, CALex designed and ordered Stop Asian Hate signs and distributed to community.
❀ Stop Asian Hate Vigil
03/20/2021: Led by Community Coalition, CALex worked with many community organizations in planning, organizing and promoting this vigil to fight against Anti-Asian discrimination and hate crimes. Speech text script and video recording.
❀ Patriots’ Day Virtual Parade
03/15/2021: In preparation of the virtual parade for Patriots’ Day in April, many CALex members gathered in town center to meet each other and celebrate the event.
❀ Parent Academy
03/13/2021: CALex was one of the community co-sponsors to support the 7th Parent Academy.
❀ Lexington Local Election
03/01/2021: CALex Secretary and Board Member, Dahua Pan, was elected as new TMM member.
❀ Candidate Introduction for Lexington Local Election
02/25/2021: Due to pandemic, the face-to-face candidate forum was replaced by online candidate introduction. CALex reached out to candidates who are running for Select Board, School Committee, Planning Board, and Town Moderator to get their introduction, translated to Chinese, and published in both English and Chinese. Here are the links:
❀ Happy Chinese New Year
02/12/2021: In celebration of Chinese New Year, the CALex Youth Ensemble organized an outstanding virtual concert to show their talent and love for music.
❀ Donation to LEF COVID-19 Management Fund
01/31/2021: CALex and LexYouth Program donated $2500 to LEF COVID-19 Management Fund in support of Lexington school district’s COVID-19 Saliva-based Surveillance Testing Program.
❀ In memories of Hank Manz
01/05/2021: Hank Manz’s light will live on in the people who knew and loved him.
❀ Happy New Year 2021
01/01/2021: 2020 has been a difficult year for all of us and 2021 will be a new beginning. We wish you and your family a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.
