38th AACC Annual Celebration

Year: 2021
Host: Thai American Community
Venue: Wat Dhammaram (Buddhist Temple) in Chicago and live on YouTube
Theme: Unity is Power
Attendance: 200 (due to Covid-19, attendance was kept limited to AACC BODs, host committee, and performers).
Highlights: At this year’s virtual Annual Gala, “Unity is Power,” the AACC celebrated the accomplishments of outstanding civic and business leaders who have made significant contributions to improve the health and well-being of the community.

The event theme, “Unity is Power,” was selected to showcase the diverse accomplishments of Asian Pacific Americans across Chicagoland. This premier event was live streamed around the globe on AACC’s website at www.aacchicago.org and seen by over 12,000 viewers across the U.S. and Asia. The 2021 virtual event was hosted by operatic soprano and spokesmodel Marisa Buchheit, a previous co-host of the Coalition’s 2018 Gala. Attorney and book publisher Sandra S. Yamate was named recipient as the 2021 Pan Asian American Ping Tom Memorial Award, and the Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) was named as the 2021 recipient of the Coalition’s Grand Asian American Sandra Otaka Memorial Award.