Ron Malmas, president of the Williams Lake Daybreak Rotary, isn’t quite sure how to break it to people.
He wants the community to come enmasse to the California Sushi Restaurant in Williams Lake Sunday evening from 5 to 8 p.m., fill up on the buffet, pay a $25 donation to help rebuild the devastated community of Sendai, Japan — and go.
“How do you tell people that we want to feed as many people in the community as fast as we can?” he asks. “We’re hoping there will be a line up around the building.”
Malmas doesn’t want to offend anyone; he’s simply driven to raise as much money as possible for the devastated Asian country. The Daybreak Rotary club has ties of sorts to Sendai, he says, as Shirley-Pat Gale, club president elect, taught in the city and has friends who live there.
Malmas is grateful California Sushi has agreed to host the event and provide the food for the buffet; Daybreak Rotarians will be serving and cleaning dishes.
Community members do not have to purchase a ticket in advance; they can buy them at the door. A donation box will also be available for people who want to contribute.
To make this work, Daybreak Rotary is partnering with Rotary Club District 2530 in Japan. All money will go “dollar for dollar” to relief efforts.
Malmas says it will be up to the club in Japan to determine how the money can best be used. But he expects it will be months before the club hears back on how the money is used.
For now, Malmas is waiting to hear from the Japanese Rotary club. He’s not surprised he hasn’t heard back yet, given the utter devastation.
“I’m thinking they are so overwhelmed right now that when they get five minutes to sit down at the computer and check their e-mail they do.”
Malmas thinks once the clean up is complete, then the money will be used to rebuild communities.
