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In accordance with the By-Laws the Annual Meeting was held on Saturday, May 20, 2006 with seven members present. The Foundation continues its tradition of a single annual meeting with the Executive Board having full authority and responsibility of conducting all affairs. All cash income and actual cash expenses are reported. However, there is no reporting of the huge amount of "in-kind volunteer hours" donated by individuals or underwritten by Fuku-Bonsai to maintain the collections, conduct workshops, the monthly Bonsai Days, and as liaison with bonsai organizations.
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
Another year has passed and it is again time for our annual report and meeting. I am pleased to relate the Foundation has made steady progress on our long term projects. The Foundation continues to participate in the Big Island Bonsai Association’s Spring and Summer Bonsai Shows.
I am sorry to report that Jan Biltoft who has helped and served for so many years is not doing well health wise. Our prayers are with her and we appreciate her long record of faithful assistance to our goals. A tribute to Jan and Charlie Biltoft is a part of this annual report. Hiroshi Ikeda is also getting on in years and is slowing down with his public activities. Thank you, Hiroshi, for all you have done for us over the years.
I am pleased to announce that we continue to receive many compliments from the visitors to the Center on the many different styles and plant variations throughout the collection. We are all working to attract more visitors and my hope is to continue to improve on the bonsai collection and display furniture, as well as the signage.
More hopes for the coming year include making steady progress in our projects and reaching out to all our members and guests at the Fuku-Bonsai Cultural Center and Hawaii State Bonsai Repository.
Respectfully submitted,
(s) Michael S. Imaino, President 2005 EXECUTIVE BOARD President Michael S. Imaino Vice-president Edison Yadao Secretary Christine Wolf Treasurer Yolanda Macadangdang President Emeritus Hiroshi Ikeda
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- ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT for the period ending December 31, 2005
- INCOME & EXPENSE STATEMENT
- Cash balance brought forward (January 1, 2005) $5,651.33
- Income: 135.00
- Expenses: 86.30
- Cash balance $5,700.03
- STATEMENT OF ASSETS & LIABILITIES
- Total cash assets: $5,700.03
- Total non-cash assets: 175,453.83
- Liabilities: none
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JAN & CHARLIE BILTOFT
- A tribute to the spirits behind
- Kona and Big Island bonsai!
Janice and Charlie Biltoft are not widely known to the bonsai community because they lived in Kona where bonsai is not prominent. Jan was an outspoken, energetic community leader and backbone for the West Hawaii Humane Society and an active member of the Kona Crime Prevention Committee and the Kona Outdoor Circle. Charlie seemed to be her shadow as you'd always find them together but with Charlie in the background. They co-founded the Kona Bonsai Club in 1981 and, when the Big Island Bonsai Association (BIBA) was formed later that year, Jan coordinated much of the Kona logistics including a series of classes that was part of "Revitalization of Bonsai on the Big Island."
For each of the ten classes, a different experienced Hawaii Bonsai Association (HBA) instructor from Honolulu, two different BIBA members and I gave a Hilo class on Friday night, a Kamuela class on Saturday afternoon, and a Kona class on Saturday night. We slept over in Kona, dropped off the HBA teacher at Kona Airport the next day, and returned to East Hawaii. Jan made most of the arrangements for the teaching facilities, hotel rooms, meals and the full participation of the entire Kona Bonsai Club! The course provided the basics, created strong island-wide friendships, and developed bonsai teachers and leaders that led Big Island bonsai for many years. They supported and often coordinated the annual Kona Bonsai Days that were co-sponsored by BIBA and the Kona Bonsai Club.
When Fuku-Bonsai incorporated in 1985 to build the Fuku-Bonsai Center on 17-acres of the former Tanaka Quarry in upper Keauhou-Kona, Jan and Charlie were early stockholders who toiled along with Fuku-Bonsai's staff and other volunteers to transform an abandoned rock quarry into an international showplace. In all that they did, they worked to make Hawaii a better place. They set high standards and when there were difficulties or hard times, Charlie could always bring forth his good humor to energize everyone as we got the job done!
In 1986 when Kauai's bonsai master Sadakichi Sugahara sent word that he wished to donate his bonsai collection to allow proceeds to help build the center, Jan and Charlie played major roles in creating the non-profit IRS-tax exempt Mid-Pacific Bonsai Foundation to serve as the community's liaison with the corporation. After MPBF members went to Kauai to conduct the sale of the bonsai collection, Sugahara family members used the proceeds to each become Fuku-Bonsai stockholders.
The Foundation became the recipient of choice donated Sugahara bonsai and this led to the formation of the Hawaii State Bonsai Repository. Now, when Hawaiian bonsai masters pass away, there's a place for their memorial bonsai to come to live to be shared with visitors from throughout the world. Bonsai by Haruo "Papa" Kaneshiro, Dr. Theodore Oto, Hideki Yonehara, Jackson Kansako, Hiroshi Ikeda, and others have joined the Sugahara trees. The collection includes trees trained by Japan's Saburo Kato, Japan's Shinji Ogasawara, California's John Naka, Switzerland's Pius Notter, Montana's Jerry Meislik, and others. These trees are maintained following the criteria of a Steward's Creed that Jan helped to write.
As very public-spirited individuals, the Biltofts supported both the corporation and non-profit bonsai efforts. As a retired corporate bookkeeper, Jan maintained the books of the Foundation as the treasurer until recently. She actively guided Fuku-Bonsai as a director of the corporation and was generous with her bonsai knowledge and resources. She shunned the limelight while providing needed support for Big Island bonsai to be introduced into West Hawaii.
Charlie passed away on February 2, 2004 and it seemed that shortly after, Jan increasingly became a victim of Alzheimer's. In the last few years both the corporation and the foundation have regretfully accept resignations from her official positions. In a final act of support and generosity, her bonsai pots and resources were donated to the Mid-Pacific Bonsai Foundation. Jan has made an exceptional contribution to Kona and to the Big Island bonsai community and exemplified the spirit of Kona and Big Island Bonsai!
As Jan continues her journey through the darkness, it is only fitting and proper that we pay tribute to her many accomplishments and extraordinary friendship. We send our warmest best wishes to her family in this difficult time on behalf of all associated with Fuku-Bonsai, Mid-Pacific Bonsai Foundation, and the Big Island bonsai community.
~~~ David Fukumoto (May 2006)
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