Chapter President John Saito, Jr. and George Inagaki Community Service Award recipient Hitoshi Shimizu.
Los Angeles, CA - On January 15, 2017, the Venice-West LA JACL chapter honored Hitoshi Shimizu with the George Inagaki Community Service Award at the Venice Japanese Community Center's Shinnenkai.
Mr. Shimizu is a longtime member of the VJCC and is a former Chapter President of the former Venice-Culver JACL chapter. The award is given annually in honor of George Inagaki, one of the leaders of VJCC during the 1960s and former JACL National President.
Mr. Shimizu helped start VJCC’s Senior Nutrition Program over 30 years ago and served as the center’s auditor and member of finance and fundraising committees. He was a board member of the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation and helped fundraise to build the Japanese American Memorial Monument in Washington, D.C.