The Fred Yee Citizens Award Honorees

Winners of the Citizens Award personify C.A.C.A.’s mission to develop leadership, serve the community, and promote civil rights.  Each year, the award is presented to the honorees at the Annual Gala Banquet.  The inaugural awards were presented in 2015.

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​In August 2018, the Seattle Lodge decided to rename the award as the Fred Yee Citizens Award in honor of our beloved member who passed away August 7, 2018. Fred was our board member since he joined in 2014 and served as National Representative. His guidance was key to our successful 2015 National Convention.  He attended the 2017 National Convention in Chicago and met with the C.A.C.A. delegation at the  2018 Golden Spike Conference in Salt Lake City. 

In a few short  years, Fred became a influential contributor to C.A.C.A., both locally and nationally. He offered his time, knowledge of the community's needs and effort to unite organizations in service to the community.  He embodied C.A.C.A.'s mission of leadership, service, and promotion of civil rights.

Fred Yee 1951-2018

Fred was born and raised in Hong Kong. In 1969, Fred came to Seattle to join his father, George Yee who was a partner at the Wah Young Company in Seattle’s Chinatown. Fred’s family has been in the United States since the late 1800s. Fred graduated from the University of Washington with a B.S., B.A. and MBA. Interested in community work, Fred volunteered and served in leadership positions with the API community for almost 4 decades, including Chinese Information & Service Center, Kin On Health Center, OCA, Seattle Yee Fung Toy Family Association among many others. Fred received many awards for his volunteerism including the 2014 Northwest Asian Weekly Top Contributor and the 2016 OCA Greater Seattle Golden Circle Award.  At the 55th National Convention held in Boston in 2019, Fred was posthumously honored with the National C.A.C.A. Spirit of America Award.

C.A.C.A. Seattle Annual Fred Yee Citizens Award

2024 Fred yee citizens award

Mr. & Mrs. Lo-Yu Sun

Mr. Lo-Yu Sun and Mrs. Hsiao-Lin Sun are retired restaurateurs & community

volunteers, who immigrated to the United States from Taiwan in 1971. With only a

couple hundred dollars in their pockets, they started their journey towards the American

dream. In 1978, they started their beloved restaurant chain, China First, and in 1994,

opened China Harbor Restaurant on Lake Union, which continues to serve as the

premier destination for countless special functions--from wedding banquets and

fundraisers to social events.  Leveraging their businesses as a platform for good, they

distributed meals to various Christian churches in the Seattle area.

With a desire to continually improve the communities around them, Lo-Yu and Hsiao-Lin

have been actively involved in politics since the 1980s. They played an integral role in

the elections of U.S. Senator Slade Gorton and Washington State Governor Gary

Locke.  They have both served as past presidents of the Taiwanese Benevolent

Association of America, which seeks to promote the interests of the Taiwanese

community and strengthen ties with the local government.  Lo-Yu was appointed by

George W. Bush to serve multiple terms on the National Advisory Council of the United

States Small Business Administration to help minorities navigate challenges of starting

a business in America.  Past leadership roles also include being appointed as Chinese

Overseas Affairs Commissioner and serving as President for the Greater Seattle

Chinese Chamber of Commerce.  Hsiao-Lin is a member and past president of the

Seattle Chinese Women's Club, an anchor for Chinese community gatherings, including

scholarship activities and holiday events.  

Aspiring to help those in a position similar to the one they were in when first arriving in

America, Lo-Yu and Hsiao-Lin have contributed to the growth of the Chinese

Information Service Center, which provides advocacy, social, and support services for

immigrants.  In the spirit of honoring elders in the Asian community, they are proud

supporters of Kin On, the nation’s first bilingual Chinese-American nursing home.  

They are the proud parents of three children and six grandchildren, who reside in the

local area.

2023 Honorees

Bettie Luke has been involved with Multicultural Education, Equity and Teacher in service Training for over 40 years, and has conducted Diversity training in 36 different states across the nation. She conducts Cultural Competency training and advising in K-12 and Higher Education as well as government and business settings. This year, she will be presenting training sessions for educators in Seattle and Wenatchee.​

Tuck Eng is a third generation Chinese American born in 1933. He was the youngest of six children born to Suen King Eng and Sue Fong Wong in apartment 416 Canton Alley in Seattle's Chinatown. The apartment is on the ground floor of the Bing Kung building, west of the former Four Seas Restaurant. Tuck grew up in Chinatown, attending the Chinese Baptist Church on King Street, Chinese Baptist preschool, Bailey Gatzert Grade School, Washing Junior High School and Garfield High School. Tuck graduated from the University of Washington in 1956 with a B.S. in Chemistry. Tuck also attended Chong Wa Chinese School during the week in the evenings and on Saturdays learning Cantonese until he finished Junior High School.

2022 Honorees

Ron Chew is a lifelong and dedicated Seattleite, fighting for Asian American and social justice causes in his hometown.  Ron has served as the executive director of the Wing Luke Museum, editor and current board member of the International Examiner, community-scholar-in-residence at the University of Washington, as well as the executive director of the International Community Health Services (ICHS) Foundation. Ron is also the author of My Unforgotten Seattle documenting the tight-knit community and unsung champions of the Chinatown-International District.   

Shawn Wong is the author of two novels, Homebase and American Knees.   He is also the co-editor and editor of six Asian American and American multicultural literary anthologies including the pioneering anthology Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian American Writers.  The award-winning film version of American Knees will be released soon.  In 2019, he started his own book series at the University of Washington Press, reissuing notable Asian American books such as Eat a Bowl of Tea by Louis Chu, Awake in the River and Shedding Silence by Janice Mirikitani, and a new work, Uncle Rico’s Encore: Mostly True Stories of Filipino Seattle by Peter Bacho. Wong is Professor of English and the Byron and Alice Lockwood Professor in the Humanities at the University of Washington.

2019 Honorees

Faye Hong is a popular restauranteur who has operated restaurants in Seattle’s Chinatown/ID and in Renton for many years.  Many people know his restaurants including the Atlas Café, House of Hong and Hong’s Garden.  He is a well-respected leader in the Chinatown/ID community and was honored with the NW Asian Weekly’s Top Contributors.  He served on the board of Kin On, International District  Review Board, Seattle Chinese Chamber of Commerce and has been a leader in the Seattle Hop Sing Tong and the Lee Family Associations.  He helped form the Business Improvement Area (BIA), was involved in the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Statue Foundation and helped raise money for the Chinatown Gate .  He is retired now but continues to be a voice for the community.

Kathy Hsieh is the Cultural Partnerships & Grants Manager for the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. A change agent in transforming the Office’s community engagement and arts funding practices through a racial equity lens, she helped the agency earn the Seattle Management Association’s first Race & Social Justice Management Award. She is also a Co-Exec Producer for SIS Productions which aims to create and provide opportunities and visibility for Asian American women in theatre. She is also an award-winning theatre artist having worked with many of Seattle’s theatres.

Over the years, she has served as Board President for the NW Asian Weekly Foundation, helping to develop their Asian American Summer Youth leadership program; chaired Freehold Theatre’s Diversity Scholarship Committee; advised for the KING-5 TV Community Diversity Advisory Council; and served as ReAct Theatre Board President. She has also served as a board member or planning committee member for the Natl Association of Asian American Professionals – Seattle, Theatre Puget Sound, Seattle Rep Theatre Community Advisory Committee, the League of Fringe Theatres, Seattle’s Asian American Heritage Month, Japanese American Day of Remembrance, the Seattle Asian American Film Festival and the Fred Hutchinson Research Center's Chinese Women's Cancer Project.

She has been honored by the Natl Assoc. of Asian American Professionals in Seattle as their Artist of the Year and as an actor by ArtsFund in 2003, featured in the Dramatist Magazine as “50 to Watch” in 2007, received A Special Award of Recognition by The Seattle Theater Writers Gypsy Awards for Excellence in Playwriting and Verizon’s Asian Pacific American Bash’s Innovator Award in 2012, is the 2015 Intl Examiner Community Voice Awardee in the Arts, received a Seattle Times Footlight Award and a Gypsy Award for acting in 2015, was nominated for an Elly Award for acting in 2016, and is the recipient of the 2017 Gregory A. Falls Sustained Achievement Award in theatre. 

The Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team was the idea of Ruby Chow and a girls group called the Chi-ettes.  The Chi-ettes had been impressed by a performance of the St. Mary’s Drum and Bell Team based in San Francisco. Ruby Chow convinced Chong Wa Benevolent Association to sponsor a community Drill Team in 1952.  Since its inception the SCCGDT has won top honors from every regional parade, such as the Grand Sweepstakes in Seattle's Seafair Torchlight, the Olympia Lakefair, and the West Seattle Hi-Yu.  Now in its 67th year the SCCGDT continues to serve the girls and the Community. The all-volunteer, non-profit organization provides and supports opportunities to develop friendships, self-confidence, cultural pride, teamwork and leadership skills.  The team consists of 40 girls, ages 11-19 years old. The uniforms are replicas of the Chinese Opera Imperial Warriors, handmade of silk and satin with 7000 Beads, each weighing over 8lbs. The feathers are pheasant and are approximately 5-6 ft long worn by the officers of the team. 2018-2019 Officers:  Captain: Sage Choi, 1st Lieutenant: Karina Lee, 2nd Lieutenant: Campbell McKisson, Instructor: Sue May Eng, Director: Isabelle Gonn

2018 Honorees

Harry Chan is the third-generation owner of Tai Tung, the oldest Chinese restaurant Seattle’s Chinatown International District.  He has worked there for 50 years, since 1968.  Harry is a devoted boss and an expert on the evolution of Chinese food in Seattle’s Chinatown.  Harry and the history of Tai Tung inspired the documentary “A Taste of Home”, produced by Siang Hui Tay  and Val Tan, and has been featured in the Seattle Times, MyNorthwest.com, Eater.com, Northwest Asian Weekly, International Examiner and others. 

Although Harry is busy running the oldest restaurant in Chinatown, he always has time to support the community, without fanfare. He donated dinners and more for auction for Kin On and Keiro Northwest fundraisers, and gift certificates for numerous non-profits in the Asian community. At the ACRS annual Thanksgiving and Christmas Costco Chicken giveaway, Harry noticed the elderly waiting in the cold and brought hot congee for them, and continues to do so every year.  C.A.C.A. Seattle has packaged rice for the Annual Rice Drive at Tai Tung at Harry’s invitation. Many times Harry will not accept payment for meals for volunteers.  The Asian community benefits immensely from Harry’s caring and generosity.

Jeff Lew was born and raised in Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in marketing. As a proud graduate of Seattle Public Schools (Ingraham High) and a father of three, the problem of school lunch debt and lunch shaming hit close to home for him. Jeff could not fathom students being shamed or going hungry for having lunch debt at their school cafeteria, a situation that children have no control over. 

In 2017, Jeff began a movement to end lunch shaming and find a permanent solution to the problem. Also known as the 'Lunch Dad,' Jeff launched a campaign to pay off all the lunch debt in Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane, the three largest school districts in the state of Washington. He has raised over $100,000 to date and is now aiming to pay off the lunch debt for every district in the state. Still, not everyone is aware of school lunch debt and the shaming that stems from it. Jeff is on a mission to raise awareness and find a way to end this practice once and for all. 

Sam Wan has been working in the healthcare and eldercare field since 1977. He retired as the CEO of Kin On Health Care Center and Community Care Network at the end of 2017 after 32 years of dedication and leadership. During his tenure, Sam led the organization from a small rented facility in First Hill to a multi-million dollar organization with offices in the Chinatown-International District, Columbia City, and Bellevue.  

Prior to Kin On, he worked as a program planner of the Seattle-King County Division on Aging, City of Seattle.  Sam also served in many governmental and public entities as board members and advisory committee members including the LeadingAge (a national association of elder care providers), Washington State Association of Housing and Services for the Aging, Seattle-King County Advisory Council on Aging and member of the Advisory Committee to the Washington Legislature’s Long Term Care Task Force. 

2017 Honorees

National Association of Asian American Professionals—Seattle is a local chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP), a non-profit organization that cultivates and empowers Asian Pacific American leaders through professional development, community service, and industry engagement. Founded in 1982, NAAAP operates in 28 cities in the United States and Canada. NAAAP boasts over 3,000 members and reaches over 20,000 Asian Pacific American professionals in North America.

NAAAP-Seattle is entirely volunteer-run, organizing professional development, community service, and social networking opportunities. The organization gives scholarships to high school and college students and supports local non-profits and small businesses.   NAAAP-Seattle has co-sponsored Rice Drives with C.A.C.A. Seattle, in addition to street cleanups to preparing food at Ronald McDonald House.

Harry Shum is executive vice president of Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Research group. He is responsible for driving the company’s overall AI strategy and forward-looking research and development efforts spanning infrastructure, services, apps and agents. He oversees AI-focused product groups — the Information Platform Group, Bing and Cortana product groups — and the Ambient Computing and Robotics teams. He also leads Microsoft Research and its integration with the engineering teams across the company.

Dr. Shum is an IEEE Fellow and an ACM Fellow for his contributions to computer vision and computer graphics. He received his Ph.D. in robotics from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2017, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering of the United States for contributions to computer vision and computer graphics, and for leadership in industrial research and product development.  Dr. Shum has published more than 100 papers in computer vision, computer graphics, pattern recognition, statistical learning, and robotics. He holds more than 50 U.S. patents.

Luly Yang is a world renowned fashion designer, most famous for her signature Monarch Butterfly gown which she created for the Art for Heart Foundation fashion show.  Ms. Yang opened her Seattle-based couture studio in 2000 which sells her evening and bridal designs. Since then, Yang's designs have earned her a successful business and recognition. She has been named Best Couture Dress Designer by Seattle Bride Magazine for twelve consecutive years and was awarded Nellie Cashman's Women Business Owner of the Year award.

In 2016, Ms. Yang was selected to design the new Alaska Airlines uniforms which will debut in 2018. She has also received commissions to design Pan Pacific Hotel uniforms and invited to design costumes for Teatro Zinzanni.

Over the years, Ms. Yang has contributed to the community through charity and donations. Her annual fashion shows have benefited Seattle Children's Hospital, Plymouth Housing, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Swedish Medical Center, Camp Korey, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and many other organizations and charity projects. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and experiences with students and the community.

2016 Honorees

Donnie Chin ‐ For almost 50 years, Donnie Chin would don his khaki uniform and serve the people in need in the Chinatown International District. Almost singlehandedly, Donnie managed the International District Emergency Center which operated on donations and grants. Donnie responded to thousands of emergencies, knew all of the elders and looked out for them,

fed and taught children right from wrong. Over the years, Donnie earned the respect of the Seattle Police and Fire Departments and who considered him a tremendous asset to the Chinatown International District. Donnie was fatally shot on Thursday July 23, 2015 in the

neighborhood he spent his life protecting. Donnie will be remembered for his selfless devotion to the community.

Assunta Ng ‐ Since 1982, Assunta Ng has been the publisher of the Seattle Chinese Post and the Northwest Asian Weekly. She also founded the Northwest Asian Weekly Foundation in 1994 and Women of Color Empowered in 1996 for designing leadership, community‐building and diversity training programs for youth and adults. Assunta created several community projects and organizations, which include Rainbow Bookfest celebrating authors of color, Top Contributors of the Year Award, and many others. Assunta has received numerous awards and recognitions for her work and community involvement among which the latest was the 2015 OCA Advocates Golden Circle Award.

Herbert Minoru Tsuchiya is a retired pharmacist, actor, and community volunteer. He was born in Seattle to immigrant parents from Japan. Under Executive Order 9066, Herb and his family were among the 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry to be interned during World War ll. Herb's decades of community services and civil rights involvement include presentations on the mass incarceration story across the U.S. and in Japan. Herb is a co-founder of Kin On Home Health Care and ACRS Walk for Rice, and is a long-time supporter of Keiro Northwest, NW Asian American Theatre, JACL, Rainier Chamber of Commerce plus many others.

2015 Honorees

The three winners of the First Annual Citizens Award were Eric Liu, writer and CEO of Citizen University, Connie So, Senior Lecturer at the University of Washington’s American Ethnic Studies Department, and posthumously to Bruce Lee, famous martial artist.  Mr. Lee’s award was accepted by Jerry Lee on behalf of the Bruce Lee Foundation.  Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee’s daughter sent C.A.C.A. a heartfelt video thanking C.A.C.A. for the award.