Stan Tsai has dedicated himself to serving Chinese-American elders in the greater Washington area, writes Cai Chunying in Washington.

For the past 15 years, Stan Tsai has started his Chinese New Year celebration mostly the same way, preparing for shows and exhibitions in the Lakeforest Mall, a suburban Washington shopping center.

The organization he has been associated with since 1996, the Chinese Culture and Community Service Center, has an agreement with the 150-store mall to celebrate Chinese New Year with two weeks of vibrant cultural activities.

Each year the program includes not only youth showcasing traditional Chinese dance or displaying martial arts skills, but also seniors on a catwalk or dancing to disco. Most of the volunteers are also seniors. The group that Tsai has dedicated himself to service for almost 20 years.

"I follow the old saying in Chinese - honor elders as we do our own aged parents," says Tsai, 57, who was born and grew up in Taiwan before coming to the United States in 1983.

After his mother passed away in 1994, Tsai decided to devote most of his spare time to social work. The first organization he chose was the Chinese American Retiree Enterprise Inc's Senior Center, serving Chinese-American elders in the greater Washington area. It was the only type of its kind at the time.

Elderly Chinese in the US often have no extensive family or social network they can rely on. Many came to the US alone as first generation or immigrated with their adult children, leaving their culture and relatives behind and facing an aging life that is often lonely. Many also encounter language barriers when it comes to obtaining senior care provided by mainstream facilities.

Two years later, Tsai joined the Chinese Culture and Community Service Center - then a small organization with sporadic cultural activities for the local Chinese community.

Recognizing the need for senior care among Chinese-Americans, Tsai has over the years helped to transform the center into one of the largest organizations in the Chinese community, providing full-fledged community services with specialization in senior care. He became its president in 1998 and chairman in 2006 and 2012.

Tsai's own professional experience has served his volunteer work well. He earned a master's degree in computer science from the New York Institute of Technology in 1986. He had worked mainly for US military hospitals, developing software to gather statistics from various medical facilities, including overseas bases, which then were used for resource allocation and budgetary decision making.

Tsai says that his bachelor's degree in business administration from the Chinese Culture University in Taiwan has also contributed to his managerial success at CCACC.

Calling itself a "grassroots" organization, the CCACC has a 2,323-square-meter facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland and more than 2,000 members and 60 full-time employees.

It houses an Adult Day Healthcare Center, which receives funds from the US government to provide care to seniors who have disabilities or illnesses. Services include transportation, dining, medical assistance and entertainment. The center has become the largest facility of its kind in Maryland.

Tsai's vision is to launch assisted-living facilities and nursing homes - the two more advanced stages in senior care.

On top of its signature senior care, the CCACC is also a de facto cultural center, offering a wide range of cultural classes and hosting events throughout the year to promote the awareness of Chinese culture.

The Lakeforest Mall Chinese New Year celebration is the highlight.

Tsai now serves as the co-chair of the Montgomery County Executive Asian and Pacific American Advisory Group, and often consults with state and local governments on issues related to his community.

When Tsai learned that the county government set up MarketPlace to help immigrants learn the essentials of the new healthcare law, or Obamacare, he protested the lack of someone who spoke Chinese to help callers navigate through the complexity of the system. About 10 percent of the county's residents are Chinese. Six people who speak Chinese have since been added.

Tsai also founded Asian-American Homeownership Counseling during the real estate crisis several years ago and still serves as chairman. The organization provides a bilingual service to help Asian-Americans handle problems they encounter in the housing market.

Tsai is active in voter registration and US Census participation in the Chinese community and often writes articles encouraging his fellow Chinese-Americans to become more politically engaged.

He was the co-chair of the Organization of Chinese Americans Greater Washington DC Chapter, an organization that helps Chinese-Americans become more assimilated into American society.

As the Washington representative of the New Party in Taiwan, Tsai also shoulders another mission: helping people understand Cross-Straits relations between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland. He attends think tank forums and meets federal legislators, advocating that the US stay out of Taiwan-mainland relations.

Now retired from his professional job, Tsai has become a full-time employee of CCACC, serving as the director of its adult day care center, after many years of volunteer work there.

"Our textbook always said the purpose of life is to serve," recalled Tsai of his school years in Taiwan. "I guess I am doing that now."

Contact the writer at charlenecai@chinadailyusa.com.

(China Daily 03/02/2014 page4)