CPC Brooklyn Community Services Celebrates 37 Years of Service with Smiles & Patriotism | Chinese-American Planning Council
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CPC Brooklyn Community Services Celebrates 37 Years of Service with Smiles & Patriotism

Oct
27
CPC Brooklyn Community Services Celebrates 37 Years of Service with Smiles & Patriotism

The CPC Brooklyn Community Services program recently held their 37th Anniversary Dinner Gala on Thursday, October 20th, 2016. Held at the New Spring Garden Restaurant, they were fully booked with over 550 attendees and honored guests such as Congress Member Nydia Velázquez, Senator Martin J. Golden, Assembly Member Pam Harris, Assembly Member William Colton, Assembly Member Peter Abbate, Council Member Carlos Menchaca, Council Member Vincent J. Gentile, District 47 Leader Nancy Tong, Acting Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez, District 20 Superintendent Karina Costantino, Chief Captain of the 72nd Precinct Emmanuel Gonzalez and representatives from Mayor’s office, City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, Public Advocate Letitia James, Council Member Mark Treyger and Senator Jesse Hamilton's office. There were many highlights that night, including the honoring of President and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Carlo Scissura, President and CEO of Maimonides Medical Center, Mr. Kenneth Gibbs, Ms. Alice Lee, Assistant Principal of P.S.105 and Kwok Shing Hong Inc. for their incredible community work.

One particular highlight from the evening stood out as the embodiment of CPC Brooklyn’s spirit -- 15-year old Audrey Soo and 72-year old Ms. Jin Mei Chen held a captivating performance of the American national anthem. All eyes and ears were on Audrey setting the tone and melody on violin and Ms. Chen delivering a beautiful rendition of the patriotic song.

It’s hard to believe that only five years ago, Audrey was a student at the CPC After-School Program at PS 153 and Ms. Chen had just immigrated to the United States. Congresswomen Nydia Velázquez had particularly praised Ms. Chen, a member of CPC Brooklyn Senior Services, whose vocals had struck a resounding chord of inspiration within the 23-year Congress member. As the first Puerto Rican woman to be elected to Congress, Ms. Velázquez was no stranger to the difficulties of new immigrants and gushed with pride upon seeing Ms. Chen’s performance.

In the five years since immigrating to the U.S., Ms. Chen has since enrolled in CPC’s ESL class and Citizenship class, where she studies day-in and day-out to learn English, educate herself and assimilate with the country. As member of the CPC Senior Services, she has made many great friends among the other senior members, who had all banded together in her support. From numerous encouragements, to fashion advice and even lending their personal best fashion accessories to Ms. Chen, the other senior members truly demonstrated how powerful close community bonds can be. 

“It was incredibly inspiring to see all the work Ms. Chen personally put in to practicing the lyrics and making sure she gave the national anthem the respect and effort it deserved. I doubt there was a single person in the crowd of over 5​50 supporters who didn’t feel deeply patriotic. Her success and dedication really makes you feel accomplished as a service provider because we know there are many others like her, working hard to chase that American Dream.”, said Janice Won, CPC Interim President & CEO. 

It is stories like hers that continue to motivate the CPC Brooklyn Community Services to work harder in serving the smiles of Brooklyn with dedication, integrity and professionalism. 

CPC Brooklyn Community Services would also like to thank our generous sponsors for working with us to provide our community with the foundation to succeed. 

Alphacare

Affinity Health Plan

Americare

Apple Bank

A+ Academy

Bai Sha Family Association

Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce

CAIPA

Carat Club Tailoring Inc.

Carking Kind 

Chinese-American Sunshine House 

ConEdison

CPC Home Attendant Program  

Dr. William Cheung, M.D.

Eastman Real Estate

Elite Learning Group Inc.

Emblem Health

Empire BlueCross BlueShield

Empire State Bank

Fang Zheng Construction 

First American International Bank

Fook Funeral Group

Healthfirst

Humana

Kwok Shing Hong

Mass Mutual

Maimonides Medical Center

Midwood Asian American Ambulance

NY Lotus Light Association Inc

NYU Langone Medical Center

Park Asia

Peking Food LLC

Senior Whole Health

UCA of Brooklyn

UnitedHealthcare

VNSNY Choice Health Plans

Wellcare

Xincon Home Health Care Services

 

For more information on Brooklyn Community Services please click here.