Highlights from the 2024 Annual Golf Tournament
Our 14th Annual was a Smashing Success!
The members of the Sacramento Buddhist Church Golf Committee extend our appreciation to the sponsors, raffle prize and cash donors, and players for their support of this year’s golf tournament. We realize the success of this event could not have been possible without your continued support and contributions to the temple.
Check out the photo album of our tournament.
One of the many goals for this year’s tournament was to rekindle the pre-pandemic temple spirit and reacquaint the Kaikan as the gathering place for its sangha members and guests. We set a path to accomplish this desired goal by encouraging the players and guests to make their way after golf to the Kaikan where they could sit, relax, unwind and dine-in with their friends while enjoying the air-conditioned comfort of the Kaikan. It was easy to see by the packed house, filled from wall-to-wall that every golfer, guest and volunteer enjoyed the social interaction and in-person conversations that were all so commonplace in years’ past.
Shout Out to Our Volunteers!
Successful events, such as a golf tournament, rely on the detailed planning of activities and tasks that are delivered on a timely basis by the village of volunteers. The work of these dedicated individuals is guided by the committee’s team leaders, and their collective efforts may go unnoticed by our guests as they enjoy all the activities of the day’s events. The committee would like to recognize Cindy Kitade, Kelli Morioka-Sato, Bob Chavez and the many volunteers who helped us make this tournament run as “smooth as silk.” We could not have done it without their help and support.
The seamless running of the on-site tournament activities was attributed to stewardship of Sheryl Kajioka and Diane Shimosaka and their group of volunteers. Meanwhile, back at the temple, master chefs – Marty Sakata and Gordon Nitta were more than eager to roll out their monster barbeque pits to prepare the meal for this year’s tournament. Their crew of able-bodied volunteers prepared, sliced, diced and plated 200 bento boxes for the tournament’s players, guests and volunteers. The kitchen and luncheon preparation crew consisted of:
Kitchen Leads: Marty Sakata and Gordon Nitta
Volunteers: Bobby Tanaka, Dale Louie, Denis Ishisaka, Cheryl Lieu and Brandon La.
Luncheon Leads: Diane Shimosaka and Sheryl Kajioka
Volunteers: Alan Wu, Shirley Sekeres, Beth Briley, Shirley Kato, Meriko Hoshida, Stacy Matsunami, Brian Ishisaka, Joan Tokeshi, Cindy Kurahara, Elaine Yoshikawa, Jacie Shimosaka, Jennifer Nitta, Jordan Shimosaka, Kim Sakata, Mary Ann Kashiwagi, Misa Oshiro, Roger Ikemoto, Sue Baxter, Cynthia Ikami and Joan Nishikawa.
There are countless behind the scenes tasks that were performed flawlessly by each of the following committee members and volunteers, including:
Keith Kato – Solicited and collected merchant gift certificates, donations and gift cards, and point-of-contact for the Teal Bend Golf Course’s general manager;
Myra Okasaki – Prepared and finalized the tournament program and released email messages to players and other interested parties of upcoming pre-and post-tournament activities, distributed cold drinks and other beverages to players on the course;
Alan Wu – Conducted the digital draw of raffle prize winners, prepared blind team signage, oversaw the raffle table and distribution of prizes and prepared the letter of gratitude addressed to the tournament’s donors and sponsors;
Ted Yoshimura – Developed the tournament rules, and recruited players, donors and sponsors;
Minh La – Digital raffle draw application development and post-tournament scoring;
Shirley Sekeres – Prepared and assembled table settings and utensils, made arrangements with a supplier for the morning treats;
Steve Hiromoto – Provided his delicious homemade Kimchi for the luncheon;
Wayne Kurahara – Recruited players, contacted sponsors and donors for complimentary green fees and other raffle prizes;
Allan Hoshida and Minh La – Printed and assembled tee box sponsor signage; picked up morning pastries;
Myra and Minh – Verified and entered individual scores and posted blind team scores and announced blind team winners;
Gregg Kochi - Tournament’s official photographer; displayed pictures at the luncheon and uploaded digital images onto the Betsuin website;
Kim Sakata – Provided her expertise to organize, assemble and prepare more than 200 spam musubis for morning treats and 200 bento boxes for the luncheon;
Teri and Robbie Midzuno - Purchased an assortment of snacks and packaged 156 goodie bags for each golfer;
Diane Shimosaka and Sheryl Kajioka – donated the ice cream and other goodies for the post-luncheon dessert;
Sheryl and Diane and their team of volunteers that included: Elaine Yoshikawa, Meriko Hoshida, Shirley Kato, Stacy Matsunami, and Myra - Coordinated the activities associated with checking in the 156 golfers, graciously accommodated the needs of unregistered and last-minute replacement players while assuring each golfer received the tee gift (jackets) as ordered;
Stacy, Shirley, Meriko and Myra – Provided on course refreshments to keep the players well hydrated by roaming around in their golf carts filled with an assortment of liquid beverages, and
Gordon, Marty and Robbie – Made several purchasing “runs” to buy all the merchandise for the bento boxes, refreshments, tee prizes, and the like.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
The committee realizes it takes an army of sponsors, donors and a full field of golfers to raise funds for the temple’s capital improvement fund through this event. The committee gives a big shoutout to two of our major sponsors - Robbie Midzuno and Sara Hutter, representing the J. Morey Insurance Company for their continued support of the temple’s annual golf tournament. Robbie and J. Morey have been major sponsors of the golf tournament for more than six consecutive years. Robbie open-heartedly donated two grand prize raffles prizes of multi-night lodging stays in South Lake Tahoe. The dates for the three-night stay coincide with the 2025 Celebrity Golf Tournament. J. Morey sponsored assortment of cash and merchandise prizes to any golfer who records a “hole-in-one” on each of the Par 3 holes. Unfortunately, we failed to award a prize for a HIO. Better luck next year.
A recap of the of the tournament contributions is as follows:
Tournament Field: 156 golfers played in this year’s event.
Bento Lunch Box: Prepared 200 bento boxes for the tournament’s players, guests and volunteers.
Sponsors and Donors: 56 generous tournament sponsors (Gold, Silver, Bronze; In-Memory-of) and 68 cash and raffle prize donors, including:
Tournament Sponsors
Grand Prize Raffle(s) Donor: Robbie Midzuno – Two grand prizes of three-night stay at Hilton Vacation Club in South Lake Tahoe in July 2025
Hole-In-One Prizes Sponsor: J. Morey, Inc. Sara Hunter - $5,000 main prize with merchandise offerings on each of the other Par 3s.
Gold Level Sponsors
Ameriprise Financial - Derek Seo
SBC Legacy Endowment Fund Board - Allan Hoshida
CASE Medical Group - Cheryl Lieu, MD and Kelvin Mark, MD
ML Asset Management – Kelvin Mark and Cheryl Lieu
Wayne and Lynn Kurahara and Family
Woodcreek Wealth Management - Stanford Hirata
Maynard and Cindy Kurahara
Anonymous
Curtis and Emily Ishii
Silver Level Sponsors
Sacramento Buddhist Women's Association – Shirley Kato
Reverend Marvin Harada
Grace Hatano
Sacramento Adult Buddhist Association – Jean Kashiwada
Cetera Financial Services – Mark Frederick
Sacramento Dharma School – Diane Shimosaka
Bronze Level Sponsors
Hoshida and Reyes - Allan Hoshida
Myra and Dean Okasaki
Sherman Iida
Ted and Sharon Yoshimura
Keith and Karen Adachi
North American Food Distribution, Inc. - Judy and Harley Inaba
Shirley and Keith Kato
Monument Financial Group – Brian Ishisaka
Hole Sponsors
Kiyo’s Florist – Lisa Taira
Royal Florist – Lynda Tanaka
In Memory Of
George Kashiwagi – Amiko Kashiwagi, Joy Howell, Diane and Dennis Shimosaka, Graig and Carol Yamane and Alison Post
Fujiye and Sam Haramoto – Hunter Arakawa
Billy Hatano – Grace Hatano
Carl Kurahara - Ed Oda, John Neishi, Mike Yatabe, Ron Miyake
George and Agnes Shimosaka – Shimosaka Family
George and Betty Kajioka – Sheryl Kajioka
Ginger Lee – Richard Kai
Janice Tahara – Harvey Tahara and Ted and Sharon Yoshimura
Joe and Hisashi Urokogata – Sheryl Kajioka
Mike Nishio – Ted and Sharon Yoshimura and Harvey Tahara
Pearl Kai – Richard Kai, Eiji and Kathy Yamamoto and Virgil Norman
Reiko Kurahara – Mark Frederick
Yoshiko Jean Ota – Stan and Ardeana Ota
Dads - Tatsuo Okino, Shigeru Fukushima, Bill Kashiwase, Kuni Hironaka - Bob Okino, Dick Fukushima, Paul Kashiwase, David Hironaka
Raffle Prizes
Cash Donors: 4
Raffle Prize Donations: 66
We hope all of you were able to renew old acquaintances, share a few laughs together and most of all had fun throughout the day. We’ll see you all again during the summer of 2025. The scheduled date is Wednesday, July 16, 2025, at the Teal Bend Golf Course. Be safe, sound and Covid free until we meet again next year!
