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Irvin R. Lai Scholarship Form
Irving R. Lai
April 27, 1927 - July 16, 2010
Community Leader, Civil Rights Advocate, and Revered Church Elder
Irvin R. Lai was born in Locke, California, where he was first introduced to the importance of community service. His tireless and unselfish community spirit was strongly influenced by his mother, Effie Lai, who volunteered as a social worker in Locke to help many immigrant women from China settle in California. Through his mother's example, Irvin witnessed at an early age the importance of helping the community. As an adult, Irvin became an active promoter of culture, history and civil rights of Chinese Americans in Los Angeles, as well as on the state and national level.
Irvin began his civic engagement when he joined the Chinese American Citizens Alliance in 1960. After serving as Los Angeles Lodge president from 1980-82, Irvin was seated as a National Board member from 1983 until his passing. He presided as National Grand President from 1985-89. One of his most prominent concerns during this period was the controversial Vincent Chin murder case in 1982. Irvin led his Lodge and C.A.C.A.'s Grand Board to join the coalition of organizations that began a movement to educate the public, seek justice, and convince the federal government that Vincent Chin's murder represented a flagrant violation of his civil rights.
Irvin's community involvement also included helping to revitalize the Chinese Chamber of Commerce by expanding its scope to Southern California and establishing an office in Chinatown. As director from 1970 until his passing and as its president from 1982-83, he helped not only to establish an office in Chinatown but also to expand the Chamber's scope to Southern California. In 1989, Irvin, along with key community leaders, was instrumental in preventing the sale of the French Hospital to developers. Now called Pacific Alliance Medical Center, the hospital continues to maintain full-service health care to its community.
When public safety and education were at risk to the Chinatown community in the early 1980s, Irvin and others stepped up as well to advocate and subsequently charter the formation of the Chinatown Public Safety Association and the Asian American Education Commission advisory board of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Best known for saving the 'Peking duck' delicacy in America in 1982, Irvin spearheaded the Chinese American community's drive to educate California on the culinary background and safety of Chinese food preparation. As a direct result of Mr. Lai's testimony before the State Legislature hearings in Sacramento, an exemption to the State's health and safety code was passed on the preparation and retailing of Chinese roast duck.
During his presidency in the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California from 1994-1996, Mr. Lai led the dedicated membership to mount a fundraising campaign to obtain a permanent location at 411-415 Bernard Street; support the community documentation of Chinese American WWII veterans of Southern California; petition for the historic preservation of the 1888 Chinese cemetery shrine at Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights; and advocate for the preservation and conservation of over 170 gravesites at Evergreen Cemetery which were disturbed during an MTA Gold line expansion project in East Los Angeles. On March 9, 2010, Irvin's outspoken years of work culminated in a dedication ceremony of the memorial wall at Evergreen Cemetery. This was his last significant contribution to preserving local Angeleno history of Chinese Americans before his passing.
Long before involvement with civic and community activities, Irvin's life centered around his family and the Chinese Methodist church in LA Chinatown. His wife, Jessie, introduced him to Chinese Presbyterian Church on Adams--later known as True Light and now Alhambra True Light—whose longstanding roots in Los Angeles reach back over 130 years. True Light, formed in 1876 to provide assistance and ministry to children whose parents worked in Chinatown's laundries, produce markets and restaurants, was where he dedicated himself as an active and serving member, trustee, and elder for over half the church's existence. Irvin remained devoted to continuing his church's historic mission at the church's former location in Lincoln Heights to continue providing outreach assistance and service to newcomer immigrants and their children facing new adjustments and transitions into American life. Irvin strived to sustain the church's satellite Chinese school and neighborhood youth outreach program at Lincoln Heights until its closing in 2003. Irvin remained active with and devoted to True Light Presbyterian Church until his passing.
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