Work continues on the project at a steady clip. Drywall has gone in on one side of each wall (the other side will go up after inspection), insulation is being installed, and electricity and voice/data cables are being strung up. 
These guys are really fast. Like the guy on stilts, installing the insulation. He finishe
d the entire wall in about the time it took to take this picture!
Things are moving right along at 611 S Lane St. The top of the monitor got put on this week and the last of the windows has been cut out.
From now on, whenever we have a difficult question we need answered, will will just go to Construction Superindendent Armin Bunkelman's hat and push the large red button on top. Problem solved!
Also at the dinner was Duc Tran (pictured above, left, with CISC director Alaric Bien), owner of Viet-Wah Supermarket, who worked at the agency soon after coming to Seattle as a refugee. Tran donated $500 that evening.
You know those huge, long bolts they put in to hold the walls to the building? (see July 30 post) Well, this is what they look like on the outside. They attach to these metal plates to provide extra support for the building. They did the same thing on the Bush Hotel just before the Nisqually Earthquake and fortunately, even though it looked bad, there was really minimal damage to that building.
On the other hand, this building had no reinforcements at all and came through that earthquake totally unscathed! But since this is going to be our home for at least the next 6o years, we might as well make it as strong as possible.
As we suffer through one last summer in our old office, we look longingly at the newly installed vents and ductwork that will be our new heating and air conditioning system.
In the meantime, we'll just think cool thoughts and make due with popsicles and bubble tea!
The cutting of the windows is taking a bit longer than anticipated. It's really not easy being up that high, cutting half of the building's walls out. But oh, what a view! From the 3rd floor, Sunshine Garden seniors will have a light and airy space looking out on Uwajimaya, the stadium, and downtown.
They're also having to redo some bricks because they are hollow and when they cut the windows, there were gaps exposed. Here's one of the guys cutting some of the bricks to make them fit back into the space.
You know all those steel and wood supports on the part of the building where the windows are being cut out? Well, in the main building they're also putting in more supports to hold the brick wall to the rest of the building. They had to drill holes through the support beams to tie them to the exterior wall using these really long bolts. Don't think they sell these at Home Depot!
In other news, all that planning around the voice and data cabling (see July 7 post) worked out and we now have boxes in each office to hook everything up to. They've also installed the fire alarms. These are the modern kind with flashing strobes and sound so even our most hearing impared friends can be safe. 
Story by BONNIE HSUEH
Examiner Contributor
Jin-Tao Xiong, a Chinese immigrant who came from Guandong province 21 years ago, is a regular visitor at the Sunshine Garden Senior Day Care Center, coming every day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
After Xiong’s husband passed away, the center has become an essential part of her life. Now, not only is she a client of the center, participating in activities like Tai Chi, singing, and knitting, but she is also a volunteer, teaching other seniors Cantonese and Mandarin.
The Sunshine Garden Senior Day Care Center is operated under the Chinese Information and Service Center (CISC), which is currently located in the Bush Hotel of the International District. With its original mission to bridge cultures, communities and generations for Chinese immigrants and their families to succeed, CISC has grown since 1972 to provide services to the Vietnamese as well as other Asian communities.
Looking at Xiong and Dai-Fan Tao, a fellow client at the center, one can hardly tell that Xiong is 84 years old and Tao is 90. They both look active, happy and healthy. And they live independently by themselves in apartments in the ID.
“I feel so happy coming here every day. There are classes and activities for me to join all the time,” Xiong expressed in Mandarin. “And right now my friends [at the center] are waiting for me to have dim-sum together.”
Now that the local Asian American community has become more spread out, CISC has been working hard to reach their clientele. CISC offers programs and activities at various sites, including Seattle, Redmond, Bothell and Bellevue.
While CISC envisions its International Family Center, currently located in the ID, to operate as a hub, it has found its Seattle-based resources confusing for some clients, as services are provided at three different locations within the ID. For example, as ESL Literacy Program Coordinator Tsai-En Cheng pointed out, her students attend class at the International Family Center, which is in the Pacific Rim building on South Jackson Street. But if they need her, the students must go to the Bush Hotel to meet her.
For some, the distance between the Bush Hotel and the Pacific Rim building is a pleasant walk; for others, given that some of the ESL students at CISC are seniors or parents with infants, the distance is not so convenient.
In order to centralize its resources, CISC has started the Moving On Up Campaign, which raises money for the organization to move to a new location at 611 S. Lane Street this November. The new location will double the current size, providing space for all their ID offices to be housed in one building.
“We want to consolidate all our different sites, and that will save money because we will also save time just going back and forth,” said Alaric Bien, CISC executive director.
CISC’s future home will look brand new, unlike the current main office where the carpet is unclean and the building has no air conditioning. Bien said, “It will be a lot more welcoming, friendly and respectful to our clients, staff and volunteers.”
With limited human resources and funding, CISC strives to offer the most excellent quality services possible. Its primary programs can be divided into five categories: Advocacy & Training, Crime Victims, Elderly Services, Employment, and Family and Youth. These programs add up to about 50 individual services provided to 5,000 clients a year by only 35 staff members.
With these impressive statistics, CISC also tailors its services to meet different client needs. As Bien recalled, they once got a request from a Chinese lady who needed someone who could speak Shanghainese, and help her cook Shanghainese-style cuisine three times a week. Luckily, CISC found someone who fit the criteria.
CISC has specific cultural and linguistic capacities to serve its clients from diverse backgrounds. Bien said, “It’s not something you can normally get if you go through a mainstream agency.”
For Cheng, who has worked for CISC as an ESL teacher for almost four months, the impact that CISC has on her students is pretty significant. Cheng said some of her students have acquired enough English skills to give them confidence to shop at American stores. They no longer have to travel all the way to the ID for groceries. Now, they are always excited to see Cheng, for they appreciate her teaching that has made a difference in their lives.
Cheng’s teaching experience has been so rewarding that she turned down a job offer to teach ESL classes at a community college — an opportunity not often offered to a non-native English speaker.
It is the colleagues like Cheng that keeps Bien enthusiastic about his job. Bien says that all the people working at CISC are very dedicated to their clients despite the underpaid salaries. To Bien, CISC is like a family, where everyone pulls together and works extremely hard.
“People are here because they want to be here,” said Bien. “We are not doing this for money.”
The Moving On Up Campaign presents its final 10 percent fundraiser on Sunday, July 30 at 6 p.m. New Kowloon Restaurant. Tickets are $25. (206) 624-5633 x117, www.cisc-seattle.org.
That's what we're going for in our new space. The International Family Center will have flexible, multipurpose space that can be easily divided into 2 large classrooms, 2 smaller rooms and/or one large activity area. Here we are checking out some sample soundproof wall panels. This will mean that we will be able to have community meetings, legal clinics, ESL classes all happening at the same time without having to shout over everyone else.
Similarly, Sunshine Garden will have operable partitions so that the space can accommodate 2 different activities at a time, and the International Community Technology Center will be dividable into a larger lab and a smaller lab, or combined into one. Cool!
This week, besides continuing work on cutting out windows on the north end of the building (International Family Center, Sunshine Garden Senior Day Center, and International Community Technology Center), a giant hole was 
cut into the roof of the main part of the building to allow for a monitor with clerestory on 3 sides.
art of the office which has no windows. With the sunny (and HOT!) weather the last few days, you can really see how much more light there will be when the remodel is done.
Take a look at this! They started cutting the windows out of the brick part of the building yesterday. You should have seen all the stuff falling down into the parking lot below!
Family Center on the 2nd floor, and Sunshine Garden Senior Day Center and the International Community Technology Center on the 3rd floor. 
The electrician has started work on the site and is putting in all the wiring and junction boxes. We're still working with the furniture installation guy to figure out just exactly how to get electricity to the 30-odd workstations in the main staff work area. It's (of course) more complicated than it seems.
In addition, we met with our cabling contractor Friday (the one in the back that looks like he's got a headache) to figure out exactly where all the data and voice hookups go. Of course, it's much more complicated that it seems at first glance. Not only do we have to plan for 50+ staff, the International Community Technology Center (which will have 10 PS's, 3 Macs, and 2 Linux machines, by the way), and other public spaces, but also try to figure out what our needs may be 30-60 years into the future!
building art project that will showcase the incredible diversity within our community. So many times people hear "Chinese Information and Service Center" and assume that we a limited to a very narrow segment of the population.
As we enter the final phase of our Moving on Up Campaign, we would like to thank Assunta Ng and Tony Au for their help in hosting a special fundraiser for CISC. Together, we hope to raise the final 10% ($25,000) of our Campaign goal.
SAVE THE DATE
Sunday, July 30, 2006
6:00 p.m.
$25 per ticket
New Kowloon Restaurant
To purchase tickets, contact 206-624-5633 x117. RSVP deadline is July 21, 2006. The fair market value of each ticket is $15. Invitation and further details to follow. To volunteer, contact Assunta at (206) 223-0623.
Bien ushering in change at CISC 
Posts
