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Loomis honors Japanese American history; Ace Hardware donates $2,000 to local "Still Standing Guard" project
Summary
Local volunteers with Still Standing Guard gave a presentation on Japanese American history during the Feb. 11 Loomis Town Council meeting and received a $2,000 donation from Loomis Ace Hardware to support their outreach and educational events.
A group of volunteers from the Still Standing Guard project delivered a Japanese American History Month presentation to the Loomis Town Council on Feb. 11, tracing local Japanese American settlement, wartime incarceration experiences and postwar return to the community.
Mayor Pro Tem Jan Clark Krets introduced the group and invited Stu Kageta, a Loomis resident and volunteer with Still Standing Guard, to present. "Our family actually arrived in Loomis about 1907," Kageta said, describing multi-generation ties to local agriculture and schools. He outlined how Issei (first generation) and Nisei (second generation) families formed a substantial portion of area school populations and local businesses before World War II.
Kageta described the impact of Executive Order 9066, signed in 1942, saying roughly 2,000 Placer County residents of Japanese descent were forced to leave on short notice and report to evacuation centers and internment camps. He said many families lost property, and that local Japanese American men volunteered for U.S. military service from the incarceration camps; Kageta noted veterans from the area and said the unit received later recognition, which he discussed during the presentation.
Kageta described the group’s educational work: assemblies at Del Oro High School, panel discussions, a pop-up history museum and a book project produced with Sierra College Press. He said the group plans an annual event and student programming and hopes to expand public presentations.
Following the presentation, Sandy Richards, operations manager at Loomis Ace Hardware, described a local fundraising effort. "We opened up our soda fountain" at the Main Drug building and created a barbecue rub product; a portion of proceeds was directed to Still Standing Guard, Richards said. She presented a $2,000 check to the group during the council meeting.
Mayor Ring and other councilmembers thanked the presenters and urged continued community education. No council action was required for the presentation or donation.
Ending: Still Standing Guard asked residents to attend upcoming events and a second book from Sierra College Press was announced as expected in May; the group and Ace Hardware plan continued local outreach and displays in the Ace store to raise awareness.
