Bhutanese Community Resource Center (BCRC) has honored senior (60+) community members amidst a special cultural gathering of over 500 resettled Bhutanese living in King and Snohomish of Washington on Sunday.
A five hours long program was organized in Highline High School auditorium at the city of Burien, WA. The seniors were honored with garland and served ethnic food by the volunteers. According to BCRC president Tanka Dhital, altogether 90 seniors were honored.
In the same function, BCRC launched a community newsletter Prayas through the blissful hands of senior-most Bhutanese Shiva Prasad Pokhrel. Prayas- a community endeavor; a bilingual news bulletin will be available both online and in print version for the Washingtonian Bhutanese and Bhutanese Diasporas.
According to BCRC vice-chair Yug Dabadi, Prayas will give emphasis on informing the seniors and people with language barriers about the happenings and issues related to Bhutan and Bhutanese Diaspora. “Prayas will be a versatile paper that promotes unique Bhutanese Nepali culture, language and literature”, he said.
Meanwhile Mr. Padam Rizal talked about the activities BCRC is conducting in the community and efforts to address immediate needs of the settled folks.
Program was attended by considerable number of American guests including from the resettlement agencies, security chiefs, teachers from Tukwila, Kent and Burien school districts and DSHS officials.
Different Nepali cultural dances including solo songs were performed by Bhutanese youths. The senior services of Seattle (a local non-profit) had given free transportation for most of the seniors. New Future, another Seattle based non-profit had sponsored the hall. Volunteers from different cities had also contributed their valuable time to transport seniors and other participants in the program. The local transport system is feasible; so many audiences get to the spot by bus.
BCRC was established in 2010 and is the only the legitimate organization of Bhutanese in Washington.
Contributed by DP Neopaney from Washington for BNS.
