UCC To Mark 34 Years Serving Cambodian Community

Thursday, September 22, 2011
By Stephanie Minasian
Staff Writer
Gazettes (Long Beach, California, USA)

From helping residents receive groceries to providing English as a Second Language classes to those in need, the United Cambodian Community (UCC) has spent 34 years assisting people from all over Long Beach. The anniversary will be celebrated on Sept. 28.

With one of the largest Cambodian populations outside of Cambodia, more than 300,000 people migrated to this area in the 1970s to escape the persecution of the Khmer Rouge. About 1.5 million Cambodian people, who were killed, starved or held captive in labor camps during the Khmer Rouge’s reign.

In 1977, UCC was formed in Long Beach.

United Cambodian Community to Celebrate 34th Anniversary

09.02.11
By Long Beach Post | Staff Reports

The United Cambodian Community (UCC) is celebrating “Lights, Camera, Action” their 34th Anniversary Celebration & Award Ceremony on Wednesday, September 28, 2011. Registration begins at 6:00 pm and the dinner/program begins at 7:00 pm. This annual event will recognize Supervisor Don Knabe, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Christina Lee, M.D. from Talbert Medical Group.

Supervisor Knabe is receiving the Distinguished Service Award for his dedication to the Cambodian Community in Long Beach. He has provided buses for senior citizens attending community educational events, assisted in securing funding for vital programs at UCC and has been an ally to the Cambodian Community for many years.

Dr. Christina Lee is receiving the Community Service Award for her volunteer efforts in the Cambodian Community. Dr. Lee has provided pro bono education to community residents on topics such as cancer, hepatitis B and other health topics. She has served countless hours to ensure Cambodian Americans understand the importance of healthy lifestyles and self care.

Cambodian Cooking volunteer team received Community Service Award from the Long Beach Red Cross

The Cambodian Cooking team received a Community Service Award because the Cambodian Senior Nutrition Program and the United Cambodian Community Center are working closely with the Long Beach Chapter of the American Red Cross to better prepare the Cambodian community for disasters. As part of the Great California ShakeOut on October 13, 2009, Board of Directors members Charles Song and Danny Vong, along with Disaster Volunteer Mike Farrar, designed a mobile feeding and preparedness exercise to teach disaster preparedness skills to the Cambodian community and to offer paid and volunteer staffs a greater understanding of the local Cambodian community. (Long Beach Chapter ARC)

Long Beach Red Cross honors its volunteers

Community service, spirit lauded

01/23/2010
By Sarah Peters, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Neil Allgood was at the right place, at the right time. It could have happened to anyone, but for some reason it happened to him, he said.

That's not the way the Red Cross sees it.

Five years ago the retired 82-year-old Army brigadier general had an award named after him in recognition of his volunteer work and years of service -- 48 years now and still going, he said.

Almost 200 Red Cross volunteers and staff gathered Saturday at the Long Beach airport Holiday Inn for the annual Long Beach Chapter awards and volunteer recognition breakfast.

Awards were given in areas of community service and outstanding volunteer work.

The Neil Allgood Outstanding Disaster Volunteer of the Year Award was presented by Allgood himself.

"They had to pick somebody to do it," he said with humor to the crowd.

The recipients were Willie Mussman and Lisa Harris, co-chairs of the Long Beach chapter Community Disaster Education program and members of the disaster action team.

Through the program Mussman, Harris and a team of volunteers educate individuals and companies on how to prepare for an emergency and how to survive without aid for at least three days.

"That kind of knowledge is empowering," Harris said.

The goal of the program is to ensure that people are ready to act and confident in their ability to protect themselves and others around them, she explained.

"The volunteers could run this organization without us," said Nancy Kindelan, chapter CEO. "When you walk into our office, you know who the real workers are."

There are more than 850 volunteers in the Long Beach area and only 19 paid staff members.

Also recognized were Frankie Wong, Jennifer Tith and Kristin Tith as Betty Seal Outstanding Youth Volunteers of the year.

"There's a satisfaction in helping other people and we learn from opportunities that other students don't get," Jennifer Tith said, "(my sister and I) have grown in a lot of ways."

Other awards presented were the Hal Ball Good Neighbor Award to the city of Paramount and the Dorothy Wise Outstanding Volunteer of the Year presented to Sharmon Voltmer, who was not present.

sarah.peters@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1337

Cambodian group set on bridging gaps

04/30/2008
By Joe Stevens, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)

LONG BEACH - A Cambodian band blared its folk music in front of 11 veterans dressed in uniform. Some senior citizens and teenagers sat together, enjoying Cambodian iced tea, brownies and egg rolls.

With the United Cambodian Community's doors open to the community, one of the organization's goals was visible for all to see - to bridge the gap between old and young. The UCC is a group designed to help people with any problem they might encounter, and its open house on Wednesday helped get out that message.

"The mission of the UCC in the last 30 years has been to bridge the gap between the Cambodian community and mainstream culture," UCC executive director Sara Pol-Lim said. "We're bringing the Cambodian community into the larger community, and we're giving the community of information out there so they get what they need and make better decisions for their families."

Pol-Lim has been the UCC's executive director for the past 14 months, following some turmoil within the organization. The previous executive director, Dianne McNinch, was dismissed by the organization's board of directors. There also were internal power struggles before that, and the UCC was swindled out of more than $500,000 by John Durocher, who was sentenced to six years in jail last year.

During Pol-Lim's tenure, the UCC appears to have finally put its internal woes behind it and has been focusing on the community's needs.

"We've had our ups and downs, but whatever happened before is over," UCC board member Pichanary Chem said. "Now, the community is back behind us, and we're here to help, especially with programs and activities for youth."

Helping guide youth is one of the UCC's missions, but it also will help anyone, Cambodian or not, in need. It has helped senior citizens with limited English fill out necessary paperwork to get Social Security. It has helped those with mental illness or marital problems seek help, and if it cannot help a particular person, it will direct that person to the appropriate agency.

The UCC also is trying to be the catalyst for Cambodians to integrate into the mainstream community. At the open house, many non-Cambodians attended, including Raymond Chavarria, the UCC's associate/project director.

Chavarria, 48, has a lengthy resume of political and social work in Long Beach. He was hired by the UCC after a recent battle with prostate cancer that made him lose 100 pounds.

"I feel like I have a second life," Chavarria said. "I'm so grateful to be here, learn this culture and experience this beautiful culture. I love what I do. I like to help people, and in Long Beach,

I've helped so many groups, including the black community, gay and lesbian community and Jewish community."

While the Cambodian community has some unique problems, many of their problems are universal. The UCC's members urge the community to go to its headquarters on Anaheim if someone needs help, and the community apparently is responding to the organization.

"It's my duty, but more importantly, my honor to congratulate the UCC on its rebirth," Long Beach City Councilman Patrick O'Donnell said. "This is an anchor on Anaheim, and the community is fortunate to have this organization."

The UCC office is located at 2201 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach. It is open from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. To 6 p.m. Call 562-433-2490.

joe.stevens@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1281

A fresh start: New UCC director is best of both worlds

Sara Pol-Lim, the new executive director of the United Cambodian Community, discusses the challenges and opportunities facing the Cambodian community. (Steven Georges / Press-Telegram)

03/23/2007
By Greg Mellen, Associated Press
Long Beach Press Telegram (Long Beach, USA)

LONG BEACH - As the new executive director of the United Cambodian Community, Sara Pol-Lim may just bring the right blend of East meets West sensibility to succeed at the helm of the star-crossed nonprofit organization.

The first Cambodian woman to head the UCC, she also brings a singular perspective.

A survivor of the Cambodian genocide who three times escaped execution lines, the 40-year-old mother of two has first-hand understanding of the struggles and psychological scars of the Cambodian community.

Schooled in the United States, she brings Western education and a can-do American spirit to the post.

"We as a culture, we Cambodians tend to carry everything based on the past," Pol-Lim says. "Granted, we lived through (the Killing Fields), but we don't have to live in the past. When we live in the past we tend to live reactively instead of being proactive."

Pol-Lim will need to unleash that proactive spirit to lift the UCC out of its malaise.

UCC's rise and fall have been well documented, from its ascension to the dominant local Cambodian social service provider, with a $3 million income and 60 employees, to its current precarious position, where it can only afford to pay its executive director to work 25 hours a week.

Pol-Lim is the third director of UCC in just over a year. She replaces Dianne McNinch, who resigned in February.

When Pol-Lim accepted the job, her family asked her why she joined that "crazy" organization. But Pol-Lim says an organization is only a reflection of the people who run it. She plans to turn things around.

"There's nothing we can do to control what other people say," Pol-Lim says. "All we can do is project a positive attitude that we're here as a public service organization."

In a sense, Pol-Lim is coming full circle. In 1998, after earning her master's degree in human resources from Chapman University, she became the director of a youth program at UCC that had a $600,000 budget and seven staffers. She left shortly after, she says, because of philosophical differences.

Most recently, Pol-Lim worked for the Los Angeles County Registrar's Office, specializing in Cambodian voter registration.

Pol-Lim says "never in my imagination" did she consider returning to UCC, that is, until she heard about the latest opening.

Since taking the job early this month, Pol-Lim has been trying to mend relationships and reach out to diverse groups. She says she has also recruited graduate students from UCLA and other colleges to work at UCC. One is in the process of helping her write grant proposals.

Pol-Lim is also using connections at Verizon and the Department of Public Social Services to develop income streams and clients for UCC programs.

Pol-Lim hopes that as a younger survivor of the Khmer Rouge atrocities, she can bridge the gap between the older survivors and younger Cambodians who know of Pol Pot only from history books.

On Friday morning, the UCC offices reflect a youthful vibe as several volunteers chat and munch on doughnuts, while an older couple drops in for help with paperwork.

Whether it will be enough to save the foundering organization remains to be seen. The organization is still trying to recover from a 2005 business agreement with a convicted felon, John Durocher, to own part of a medical spa that resulted in a $500,000 loss. Durocher is in Orange County Jail awaiting trial on multiple fraud charges.

That business deal forced the organization to sell its only tangible asset - an apartment building on Temple Avenue - but cleared much of UCC's debt.

Pol-Lim won't say what her salary is or how much funding the organization is pulling in, and still being resolved is an issue over missing financial records from when James Dok was executive director in 2005.

In the wake of the seismic shake-ups at the UCC in recent years, Pol-Lim is creating a marketing plan to reach out to a doubtful community.

"There are so many skeptics," Pol-Lim says. "There are so many spectators waiting to see what we'll put in. I think as Cambodians, you should take pride in the organization and step up a notch."

Greg Mellen can be reached at greg.mellen@presstelegram.com or (562) 499-1291