History of LOTUS Club

In 2012, while board co-president, Gary Okamoto volunteered to mow the church grounds in order to help reduce church maintenance expenses. Ron Shimizu, a member of a bonsai club, had been pruning the church pine trees on his own, but then volunteered to share his knowledge to anyone who wanted to learn how to shape pine and other trees. Reverend Sugahara soon dubbed the group:

LOTUS Club, an acronym LOTUS, Learning Oriental Trimming Using Scissors.      

Others joined to maintain the Heisei Garden, church and parsonage grounds. Ladies volunteered to prepare lunch & help to organize and maintain the facility interior. 

Prior to the LOTUS Club, many Issei & Nisei gardeners tended to the church’s landscape.    Some included:

Today, sons Michael Kakutani, George Miyao, Jr., with wife Judie, Harvey Kadoya, sister Jean Kadoya Okamoto (daughter of Ed K), & Eric Fujii (auxiliary member) carry on the tradition as part of the LOTUS Club.