I had retired from the YMCA, and this is a few years later, in 1986, someone called me, named Nancy Araki. She is the project director of the Japanese American National Museum, way back in 1986. I don’t know when she started, maybe ’85. But she called me and said, “Fred, can we have lunch with you?” So I said, “Nancy,” I have known her since San Francisco, I’ve known the family, I have known her brothers since San Francisco, they lived just one block away from one of the YMCAs that I was responsible, in Park Presidio District - Richmond District in San Francisco - when she was a teenager. So, when she called me I said, “Okay, let’s have lunch.” But I know there is no free lunch. That was the beginning of my opportunity to work with the – be a volunteer fundraiser for the Japanese American National Museum.
Date: March 4, 2005
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Florence Ochi, Art Hansen, Yoko Nishimura
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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