Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer Award 38th Annual Yearend Celebration

Just in time for the holidays, a lovely ceremony to recognize the exemplary volunteers who have been given the Minoru Yasui award in 2014 was held Thursday at the Marriott Denver Tech Center.

A program of the Denver Foundation, the Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer award program acknowledges exceptional service from community individuals and partnerships.

The award program is in honor of civil rights advocate Minoru Yasui, who was a Japanese American lawyer from Oregon. . He was one of the few Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor who fought laws that directly targeted Japanese Americans or Japanese immigrants. His case was the first case to test the constitutionality of the curfews targeted at minority groups.

His case would make its way to the United States Supreme Court, where his conviction for breaking curfew was affirmed. After internment during most of WWII, he moved to Denver in 1944. In Denver, Yasui married and became a local leader in civic affairs, including leadership positions in the Japanese Amerian Citizens League. In 1986, his criminal conviction was overturned by the federal court.

In honor of Mr. Yasui’s incredible commitment to civil rights causes, each year awards are given out to those who set the bar higher and higher for community involement and dedication.

Those recognized this past year and the initiatives they are involved with are:

• January: Reverend Diana Flahive, co-founder of the Women’s Homeless Initiative
• February: Tanja Butler-Melone, Family Tree
• March: Meg Depriest, The Wellness Initiative
• April: Dr. Libby Whitmore, Cafe’ 180
• May: Ana Kemp, The Women’s Foundation
• June: Sharon Rouse, Denver Art Museum
• July: Ginger Case, Growing Home
• August: Deb Wells, Alzheimer’s Association Colorado
• September: Billy Brown, Denver Kids Inc.
• October: Barry Levene, Bluff Lake Nature Center
• November: Vic Sulzer, Rocky Mountain Down Syndrome Association