Dr. Homer and Miyuki Yasui were honored for their tremendous contributions to the community with the Paving The Way Award and Mr. Albert Abe was awarded a new award, The Sakura Award, for his achievements in serving so many Japanese American organizations. All three were instrumental in launching the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, a history and culture organization specializing in educating about the Japanese American World War II experience and the protections of civil rights, a project founded by the Oregon Nikkei Endowment in 1998.