Highlights from the 2025 Annual Golf Tournament

Click image to view the photo gallery.

The members of the Sacramento Buddhist Church Golf Committee extend our appreciation to the sponsors, raffle prize and cash donors, and players for their support of this year’s golf tournament.  We realize the success of this event could not have been possible without your continued support and contributions to the temple. The committee would also like to recognize Cindy Kitade, Kelli Morioka-Sato, Christine DeCamp, Bob Chavez and the many volunteers who helped us make this tournament run as “smooth as silk.” We could not have done it without their help and support.

One of the main goals for this year’s tournament was to rekindle the pre-pandemic temple spirit and reacquaint the Kaikan as the gathering place for its sangha members and guests. We set a path to carry out this desired goal by encouraging the players and guests to make their way to the Kaikan after golf where they could sit, relax, unwind and dine-in with their friends while enjoying the air-conditioned comfort of the Kaikan.  It was easy to see by the packed house, filled from wall-to-wall that every golfer, guest and volunteer enjoyed the social interaction and in-person conversations that were all so commonplace in years’ past.

Successful events, such as a golf tournament, rely on the detailed planning of activities and tasks that are delivered on a prompt basis by the village of volunteers. The work of these devoted individuals is guided by the committee’s team leaders, and their collective efforts may go unnoticed by our guests as they enjoy all the activities of the day’s events.

The seamless running of the on-site tournament activities was attributed to stewardship of Sheryl Kajioka, Kim Sakata and Diane Shimosaka and their group of volunteers. Meanwhile, back at the temple, master chefs – Marty Sakata and Gordon Nitta were more than eager to roll out their monster barbeque pits to prepare the meal for this year’s tournament. Their crew of able-bodied volunteers prepared, sliced, diced and plated 200 bento boxes for the tournament’s players, guests and volunteers. The kitchen and luncheon preparation crew consisted of:

• Kitchen Leader: Marty Sakata

• Lead Assistant:  Gordon Nitta

Volunteers: Bobby Tanaka, Marty Matsuda, Ken Okuhara, Stephen Jiang and Darren Law

• Luncheon Leader: Diane Shimosaka

• Lead Assistant:           Sheryl Kajioka

• Bento Box Organization Leader:        Kim Sakata

Volunteers: Shirley Sekeres, Cindy Kurahara, Elaine Yoshikawa, Jacie Shimosaka, Jennifer Nitta, Jordan Shimosaka, Misa Oshiro, Sue Baxter, Cynthia Ikami, Joan Nishikawa, Laura SooHoo, Joy Howell, and Ron Ikemoto.

• Spam Musubi Preparation

Volunteers: Kalli Jiang, Elaine Yoshikawa, Jacie Shimosaka, Jennifer Nitta, Meriko and Allan Hoshida, Misa Oshiro, Shirley Kato, Shirley Sekeres, Stacy Matsunami, Sue Baxter, Marty Matsuda and Bobby Tanaka.

There are countless behind the scenes tasks were performed flawlessly by each of the following committee members and volunteers, including:

1. Keith Kato – Promoted the golf tournament with local restaurants and collected merchant gift certificates, donations and gift cards. Keith was the point-of-contact for the Teal Bend Golf Course’s general manager.

2. Myra Okasaki – Planned, organized and prepared the 2025 tournament program and notified the players via email of their starting hole assignments and informed non-golfers of upcoming pre-and post-tournament activities.

3. Alan Wu – Responsible for the organization of the raffle prizes drawing and the winners of each raffle prize; prepared letters of gratitude addressed to the tournament’s donors and sponsors;

4. Ted Yoshimura – Developed the tournament rules, and recruited players, donors and sponsors;

5. Kaikan Setup: Alan Wu, Allan Hoshida, Keith Kato, Sherman Iida, Ted Yoshimura, Bobby Tanaka and Marty Matsuda.

6. Steve Hiromoto – Provided his delicious homemade Kimchi for the luncheon;

7. Wayne Kurahara – Recruited players, contacted sponsors and donors for complimentary green fees and other raffle prizes.

8. Allan Hoshida and Minh La – Printed and assembled tee box sponsor signage

9. Shirley Sekeres - picked up morning pastries for the golfers after checking in for the tournament;

10. Myra Okasaki and Alan Wu – Verified and entered individual scores and posted blind team scores; announced blind team winners at the luncheon;

11. Gregg Kochi - Tournament’s official photographer; displayed pictures at the luncheon and uploaded digital images onto the Betsuin website;

12. Teri and Robbie Midzuno - Bought an assortment of snacks and packaged 160 goodie bags for each golfer;

13. Diane Shimosaka and Sheryl Kajioka – donated ice cream and other goodies for the post-luncheon dessert;

14. Sheryl Kajioka and Diane Shimosaka and their team of volunteers that included: Elaine Yoshikawa, Meriko Hoshida, Shirley Kato, Stacy Matsunami, Myra Okasaki, Shirley Sekeres, Alan Wu - Coordinated the activities associated with checking in the 160 golfers, graciously accommodated the needs of unregistered and last-minute replacement players while assuring each golfer received the tee gift (Yeti Tumblers).

15. Stacy Matsunami, Shirley Kato, Meriko Hoshida and Myra Okasaki – Provided on course refreshments to keep the players well hydrated by roaming around in their golf carts filled with an assortment of liquid beverages, and

16. Gordon Nitta, Marty Sakata and Robbie Midzuno – Made several purchasing “runs” to Costco, Sam’s Club and other outlets to buy all the merchandise for the bento boxes, refreshments, tee prizes, and the like.

The committee realizes it takes an army of sponsors, donors and a full field of golfers to raise funds for the temple’s capital improvement fund through this event. The committee is giving a big shoutout to two of our major sponsors - Robbie Midzuno and Sara Hutter, an agent representing the J. Morey Insurance Company for their continued support of the temple’s annual golf tournament. Robbie and J. Morey have been major sponsors of the golf tournament for more than six consecutive years. Robbie open-heartedly donated two grand prize raffles prizes of multi-night lodging stays in South Lake Tahoe. The dates for the three-night stay coincide with the 2026 Celebrity Golf Tournament. J. Morey sponsored assortment of cash and merchandise prizes to any golfer who records a “hole-in-one” on each of the Par 3 holes. Unfortunately, we did not award a prize for HIO. Better luck next year.

A recap of the tournament contributions is as follows:

• Tournament Field: 160 golfers played in this year’s event.

• ·Bento Lunch Box: Prepared 200 bento boxes for the tournament’s players, guests and volunteers.

• Sponsors and Donors: 40 generous tournament sponsors (Gold, Silver, Bronze; In-Memory-of) and 70 cash and raffle prize donors, including:

Tournament Sponsors

• Grand Prize Raffle(s) Donor: Robbie Midzuno – Two grand prizes of three-night stay at Hilton Vacation Club in South Lake Tahoe in July 2026

• Hole-In-One Prizes Sponsor: J. Morey, Inc. Sara Hutter - $5,000 main prize with merchandise offerings on each of the other Par 3s.

Gold Level Sponsors:

• Seo and Associates - Ameriprise Financial - Derek Seo

• Curtis and Emily Ishii and Family

• SBC Legacy Endowment Fund Board - Allan Hoshida

• CASE Medical Group - Cheryl Lieu, MD and Kelvin Mark, MD

• ML Asset Management – Kelvin Mark and Cheryl Lieu

• Dennis and Nancy Hashimoto

• Wayne and Lynn Kuruhara and Family

• Woodcreek Wealth Management - Stanford Hirata

• Ron Miyake, John Neishi, Mike Yatabe and Ed Oda

• Anonymous (2)

• Legacy Endowment Board - Allan Hoshida

Silver Level Sponsors

• Sacramento Buddhist Women's Association – Shirley Kato

• Sacramento Dharma School – Diane Shimosaka

• Sacramento Adult Buddhist Association – Jean Kashiwada

Bronze Level Sponsors:

• ·Hoshida and Reyes - Allan Hoshida

• Judy and Tak Fukuman

• Myra and Dean Okasaki

• Monument Financial Group – Brian Ishisaka

• Shirley and Keith Kato

• Sherman Iid

Hole Sponsors

• Kiyo’s Florist – Lisa Taira

• Royal Florist – Lynda Tanaka

  In Memory Of

• George Kashiwagi –Diane and Dennis Shimosaka and Family, Joy Howell, Amiko Kashiwagi, and Craig and Carol Yamane

• George and Agnes Shimosaka -Shimosaka Family

• Billy Hatano – Grace Hatano

• Carl Kurahara - Ed Oda, John Neishi, Mike Yatabe, Ron Miyake

• George and Betty Kajioka – Sheryl Kajioka

• Mike Nishio and Janice Tahara – Ted and Sharon Yoshimura, and Aileen Nishio

• Helene Kawaye –Derek and Audrey Seo

• Ruli Ishihara – Richard Kai and Family

• Ginger Lee – Richard Kai and Family

• Jimmy Kai – Richard Kai and Family

• Janice Tahara – Harvey, Cori, Michael, Christin, James, Jayden, Gavin, Josh, and Natalie Tahara

• Joe and Hisashi Urokogata – Sheryl Kajioka

• Dads - Bob Okino, Dick Fukushima, Paul Kashiwase, David, Amy and Rich Hironaka

• Pearl Kai – Audrey and Richard Yokoi, Richard Kai and Family and Virgil Norman

• Janice Lieu – Kelvin Mark and Cheryl Lieu

• Charlene Norman – Richard Kai and Family

Raffle Prizes

• Cash Donors: 8

• Raffle Prize Donations: 62

We hope all of you were able to renew old acquaintances, share a few laughs together and most of all have fun throughout the day. We’ll see you all again during the summer of 2026. The scheduled date is Wednesday, July 15, 2026, at the Teal Bend Golf Course. Be safe, sound and Covid free until we meet again next year!

View the Golf Photo Gallery.