e-Newsletter Summer 2011

President:  Chee Swee Lee Vice President:  Freda Dana Immediate Past President: Germaine Kang Past President: Ronald Danker 

Summer Southern Nevada salutations to all members of the Singapore Association of Nevada (SAN).  Mother nature has bestowed upon us a relatively mild season temperature wise and, hopefully, everyone’s air conditioning units have held up well.  For those who long for Singapore weather, July brought us several days of 80% plus humidity and even a few rain showers with 100 degree air temperatures to go along with them!

NEWS IN BRIEF 
Survey Results The survey distributed to the attendees at the Durian Party celebration on August 28th, 2011 yielded an interesting mix of results from the respondents which can be summarized in a few sentences.  The majority would like the Association to be involved in both social and business activities and meet formally about four times per year at private residences using the “pot luck’ style as opposed to meeting at restaurants.  The majority also favors an Association open to non-Singaporean friends but was not particularly interested in having guest speakers.  Blast or group e-mail with the ability to view all responses was the communication method of choice and the questions of business card inclusions in the e-Newsletter along with volunteerism/community service did not result in conclusive results one way or another.  Thank you to all who took the time to respond.  The results will help to guide the Association forward in the future.   
National Day The annual Singapore National Day celebration held on August 6th, 2011 was hosted this year by SAN members Nicolas and Claire Khoo at their beautiful home in Painted Desert.  Culinary delights such as laksa, buboh kachang, curry puffs, coconuts as well as egg rolls, chow mein and many desserts were in abundance and no attendee left hungry.   
At the later stages of the National Day celebration, past SAN President Ronald Danker presented a plaque to outgoing President Germaine Kang for all of her hard work during her two-year tenure.  The new SAN President, Chee Swee Lee, made a brief acceptance speech in which she articulated some of her ideas for the Association and opened the floor to questions and comments from the attendees.  Although not present due to prior travel commitments, Freda Dana was announced as the new Association Vice-President.  Best wishes go out to both for great success during the upcoming two years.  Anyone with pictures taken at the Singapore National Day celebration, please submit to SAN President, Chee Swee Lee at sschee@cox.net so that we can use them for our SAN Web site.   
Executive Board Meeting  On August 14th, 2011, the SAN Executive Board met to discuss the “state of the Association”.  Matters ranging from the sporadic attendance at Association events to the possible revamping of the SAN Web site were discussed.  Although the Board members agreed that the Singaporean community in Las Vegas is quite small and that employment within 24/7 type operations among some members impacts attendance figures, it is important for Association members to reach out to family, friends, colleagues, etc. and invite them to participate if at all possible.  Remember invitees do not necessarily have to be Singaporean: friends of Singapore are always welcome!  Another point of discussion concerned input from the Association itself.  To that end, it was decided that some type of survey should be developed to measure the interest level among the membership.  The survey instrument would be distributed at the next SAN event and subsequently analyzed.   
Durian Party    On August 28th, 2011, SAN Past President Ronald Danker and his family hosted the first annual SAN “Durian Party” at their home in the Palace Monaco community of Las Vegas.  Approximately 25 people attended the event which serves as evidence of the popularity of the simultaneously sweet yet pungent fruit.  Several varieties were on hand and the attendees were able to partake to their heart’s content.  This event has all of the makings of a future regular SAN annual event but only time will tell.    
Photos from Durian Party.   

If you have photos that you would like to contribute for our upcoming new SAN website, please email photos to Chee Swee Lee at sschee@cox.net   
Moon Cake/Lantern Festival On September 10, 2011 SAN President Chee Swee Lee and her husband Bob hosted the annual Moon Cake/Lantern Festival at their home in the Iron Mountain Ranch community of the Northern Las Vegas valley.  A wide assortment of moon cakes and teas was provided by the attendees and a small contingent of youngsters was able to parade outdoors with lanterns as darkness fell.  Lively conversation, football watching, and camaraderie prevailed throughout the evening along with the consumption of the delectable moon cakes and teas. 

The Mooncake/Lantern Festival is one of the four standard SAN annual events and a good turnout serves as evidence as to the popularity of this celebration.  Thanks to all who were able to attend.  

FYI  Based on discussions at the Executive Committee meeting of August 14th, 2011 and the results of the membership survey distributed in August 2011, a re-working of the current SAN Web site will be necessary to more accurately reflect the nature of the organization.  This revised Web site will involve the collaborative efforts of Chee Swee Lee, Ronald Danker, Freda Dana and the esteemed original co-founder of SAN, Ms. Aihui Ong.  Such a re-design and launch can be time consuming and somewhat labor intensive so no date has been set but a blast e-mail will be sent out to the membership when the site is up and running.   
Logo for SAN While on the subject of the re-worked Web-site, anyone with an idea for a logo for the Singapore Association of Nevada (SAN) should submit the prototype to the SAN President at sschee@cox.net for consideration.  Also, the present and contemplated Web sites have a “discussion” feature which can be used for chat room purposes among the membership.  This feature is perfect for setting up informal or last minute outings among Association members which are not part of the four official formal SAN annual events.  Members are encouraged to consider this communication option in addition to other traditional methods. 
Just as a reminder, starting with the next e-Newsletter, free business card advertisements will be included for those members wanting to avail themselves of this service.  Anyone interested should contact SAN President Chee Swee Lee via e-mail at sschee@cox.net.  Be advised that the e-Newsletter will be archived on the new Web site so any telephone numbers, email addresses, names, etc. will be available to anyone viewing the SAN site on the World Wide Web.   

The next regularly scheduled SAN event will be Chinese New Year early in 2012.   
Until then, have a relaxing (and cool) fall and a wonderful holiday season…….    


Chee Swee Lee President Singapore Association of Nevada (SAN)  

e-Newsletter Editor Bob Cedillos