nwasianweekly.com
May 10, 2008

That’s a lotto money for Renton resident Tam Vo.

Tam Vo, a 61-year-old school maintenance worker from Renton, is a recent lottery winner. He won the Mega Millions second-tier prize of $250,000 from the April 22 drawing, matching five numbers with a ticket he bought at a Safeway in Renton. His family plans on donating some of his winnings to a nonprofit organization in Vietnam, their native country. Vo also plans to spend some of the money on himself. “I have been wanting to buy a new car,” Vo said. “Now it looks like I can!”

The Filipino Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Northwest held its first annual dinner and auction April 26 at the Brockey Conference Center at South Seattle Community College. About 250 people attended and $10,000 was raised. A portion of the night’s proceeds will be donated toward academic improvement programs for at-risk Filipino American youth. Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, the keynote speaker, and 25 other elected officials were in attendance.

Phuong Au has recently been hired by Pacific Continental Bank as assistant vice president and relationship banking officer. He will work from the bank’s office in downtown Seattle.

Mihiri Tillakaratne received the grand prize of the first annual Outstanding Woman of the Year Award from the organization Asian Sisters Participating In Reaching Excellence (ASPIRE). The award celebrates female high school or college students of Asian American descent who are proven leaders with the initiative and determination that make changes in their community. Tillakaratne was formally awarded at the 2008 ASPIRE Asian American Women in Leadership Conference April 26 at Emerson Hall at Harvard University. She is the founder and executive director of Empower a Village, a nonprofit organization that works to uplift the lives of villagers in rural Sri Lanka with breast cancer awareness workshops, mobile eye clinics and English and computer literacy programs.

On April 9, 33 UW students from 20 countries spent an afternoon at TOPS Elementary School in Seattle sharing their culture. Nearly 30 TOPS students sang songs from Singapore, ate crepes from France, learned Arabic and much more. The event was organized by the UW program Foundation for International Understanding Through Students.

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