THE LOVE IS FOR REAL
STIIIZY SUPPORTS THE LEGACY OF FAMILY-OWNED, ASIAN-AMERICAN BUSINESSES TO CELEBRATE AAPI HERITAGE MONTH
To celebrate and honor the legacy of Asian-American influence and the community's enrichment of America's history, we launched a project called the “Love is For Real”. The project's goal was to share the stories of family-owned Asian-American businesses who chased the American Dream and not only endured the test of time, but also survived through one of the most uncertain economic periods in our history. We also sought to support the elders of the AAPI community, who have been the unfortunate target of increased racially motivated violence during the pandemic.
In our efforts, we highlighted two businesses: (1) Filipino restaurant Turo Cafe & Grill, located in San Francisco's Balboa Park neighborhood, and (2) Little Tokyo Florist in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles. Whether it's through cuisine or honoring the traditional Japanese style of floral arrangement, both of these businesses provide their families a way to preserve their cultural heritage in service to the community.
To help us spread the love, we partnered with our friends at West Bay Filipino Multi-service Center in San Francisco and took care of the catering for their first in-person event since the onset of the pandemic, focusing on their Senior members! The proud owners of Turo Cafe & Grill, Chuck and Joy Santos, were enthusiastic about supporting the Seniors in their neighborhood. They provided their most delicious plates of bistek and adobo chicken, and it wouldn’t be complete without that good lumpia on the side! Turo Cafe & Grill were recently featured on the Thrillist blog, “5 Buck Lunch”, for having the best pancit noodles in the entire Bay Area!
For Mother's Day, we reconnected with the lovely Senior women divas of Sakura Gardens Senior Living Center, located in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles. We donated over 100 custom-made floral arrangements by our crafty friends at Little Tokyo Florist. Our longtime STIIIZY enthusiasts may recall we partnered with Sakura Gardens last year for our Petals for Parents project. Daniel Konishi, the Executive Director of Sakura Gardens, invited us back this year to celebrate Mother’s Day because of how well-received the event was by the Seniors. To add that extra care, we connected with Little Tokyo Florist, a Los Angeles floral shop located in the Little Tokyo Market that specializes in traditional Japanese and urban styles of floral arrangements, exotic plants and bonsai. Malina Haung and her partner Yuka Mizusawa spend countless hours carefully arranging and curating each of their custom bouquets. Every single offering featured a stunning array of flowers that immediately brought a big smile to the faces of the Senior Ladies!
