FCSN Fremont Center Naming Ceremony 04/12/2022

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04/17/2022

By DDTV

On April 12, 2022, Community leaders, supporters, and bay area medias witnessed the historic moment of Friends of Children with Special Needs (FCSN) Renaming event to honor Dr. Chenming and Margaret Hu for their great contribution. Ding Ding team videotaped this event and interviewed professor Hu and FCSN leaders.

Dr. Chenming and Margaret Hu donated half a million US dollars to FCSN. Dr Hu is the Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley, Department of EECS and the recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Obama. Mayor Lily Mei, Vice Mayor Raj Salwan, Council Members Yang Shao and Teresa Keng and the Chief of Staff of County Supervisor Haubert, Kathy Kimberlin presented commendations to the Hu family. Dream Achievers performed “Friends With Dreams”, the song composed and dedicated in honoring the individuals and families of FCSN during last year’s 25th-anniversary celebration.

FCSN (Friends of Children with Special Needs) is a non-profit organization established in 1996 to help people with developmental disabilities. In 2006, FCSN build our Dream Center in Fremont, and in subsequent years, we established many vandalized programs to help adults in continued education, living, job training, and work and enrichment programs to help children and families. In 2017, FCSN established a new South Bay center in San Jose, and in 2021, FCSN acquired another property in Fremont for future expansion.

Since the Dream Center was established, the Center has been called our Fremont Center or Peralta Center. ]The center will soon have a new formal name for this center!

Report from Gerrye Wong:

The sun shone brightly on a very happy occasion for the FRIENDS OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS non-profit group when it gave a new name to its first Center in Fremont, California. Back in 2006, the FCSN opened its first Center , which they named Dream Center at that time. On April 12, its very successful facility which has seen thousands of patients stream through for its many services and classes for developmentally disadvantaged individuals, the Dream Center has a new name. The new name was unveiled as the “Chenming & Margaret Hu Center” before a crowd of well wishers and devoted staff members. It was a very exciting moment when I was able to witness the TSMC Distinguished Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley Dr. Chenming and his charming wife, Margaret, pull the cord to unveil their names on the center’s second story building wall.

caption: Son Raymond speaks at Center Re-naming Ceremony

The Hu’s son, Raymond, who lives at the FCSN housing facility adjoining the Fremont property, spoke on how happy and proud of his parents he was for being supportive of his group which has provided a loving atmosphere for him to reside in. You could see the beaming faces of his parents as their son spoke, making them equally proud to be a part of this FCSN circle of friends. Raymond, a talented artist, has been participating in FCSN programs for more than 20 years. MC Limin Hu, in his introductions, shared that Chenming and Margaret Hu had been a huge part of the FCSN for many years. Dr. Hu served as FCSN chairman from 2016-18 and both had been active on the FCSN Board for many years. Today’s event was to formalize and honor their latest contribution of $500,000 to help FCSN build better programs and improve their present facilities.

Fremont Mayor Lily Mei, Vice Mayor Raj Salwan, City Council members Shao and Keng together with representative Kathy Kimberlin of Chief of Staff of County Supervisor Haubert, who presented commendations from their respective offices to the Hu family. In the background and preceding the official ceremony, the 3 piece combo band, FCSN Dream Achievers provided the toe tapping music, as well as their own original “Friends With Dreams” a song composed and dedicated to honor the individuals and families of FCSN during last year’s 25^th anniversary celebration. Asking everyone to step up and help him pull the draperies back hiding the new name of the Center, Chenming Hu directed everyone to stand next to them. The line-up of friends and family then were presented gold gilded scissors to cut the bright red ribbon to formally open up the Center under its new moniker. It was a glorious moment for us all who have supported FCSN through its many years of hard work to establish a comforting environment for many with physical handicaps. Friends of Children with Special Needs is a non-profit organization established in 1996 by a group of Chinese American families to help people with developmental disabilities. In 2006, FCSN launched their first Dream Center in Fremont and subsequently, established a South Bay Center in San Jose in 2017. The group has acquired recently another 18,000 sf property in Fremont for future planned expansion of services.

Currently FCSN has established many vendorized programs to help special need adults in continued education, living, job training and work experience. I commend the group that for the past 25 years, has been following its dream to build a community for their special children, and their continued expansion shows the commitment they have made to further their mission. Another active parent, James Chiao, recently authored a book chronicling the group’s mission and progress as it fulfilled its dream to serve this often ignored community of handicapped citizens. I commend not only the Hu Family for their generous philanthropic gift to this worthy organization, but all of the other dedicated volunteers who have continued to devote their time and energies to making this a strong viable organization serving the community.

For information on how you can become involved with this group whose motto is ‘TOGETHER, LET’S BUILD A COMMUNITY OF LOVE, HOPE AND RESPECT FOR OUR SPECIAL CHILDREN”, the FCSN Center is at 2300 Peralta Blvd., Fremont CA. Upcoming April 30 is their annual fundraiser, Special Needs Talent Showcase, where individuals perform in a competition for prizes and accolades. Check website: www.FCSN1996.org for information. Let’s all come out and support the fine goals of the group.