[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 71 (Thursday, April 27, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E372-E373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      ASIAN PACIFIC HERITAGE MONTH

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DON BACON

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 27, 2023

  Mr. BACON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize six individuals for 
Asian Pacific Heritage Month for their contributions to the Second 
Congressional District of Nebraska. All of these individuals mentioned 
their humble beginnings and their love for America. Each of these 
honorees have made significant contributions to the District through 
selfless contributions and hard work to benefit others. By sharing 
their culture and helping others, they have benefitted all of America.
  Nebraska State Senator Rita Sanders, a Philippine American born in 
Hawaii who resides in Bellevue, has been married to her husband for 25 
years. Her grandparents immigrated from the Philippines to Hawaii, 
where her grandfather worked in the sugar cane industry and her 
grandmother in the coffee industry. They worked their way up and 
eventually owned a coffee farm.
  Rita's father was born and raised in Hawaii, later joining the United 
States Army. While on deployment in Germany he met Rita's mother, where 
they later married and moved to Hawaii.
  Senator Sanders is honored to be a member of the U.S. STRATCOM 
Consultation Committee, the Offutt Advisory Council and the UNMC Board 
of Counselors. She served as mayor for the city of Bellevue from 2010 
to 2018. While currently serving as the state senator for Nebraska's 
45th district, Rita and her husband are commercial real estate 
developers in their spare time.
  As mayor of Bellevue, Senator Sanders worked to return the famed 
``Bells of Balangiga'' to the Philippines. While Filipinos have been 
one of the United States strongest allies since World War II, the 
return of the bells had been a friction point in relations with the 
Philippines.
  The return of the bells started with a meeting she had with President 
Duterte of the Philippines, included a formal ceremony with Secretary 
of Defense James Mattis in Cheyenne, Wyoming announcing the 
authorization to return the bells, and ended with a ceremony she 
attended in Balangiga in East Samar, Philippines. After 117 years since 
being taken by the United States, they were finally returned home where 
they rightfully belonged, thanks to the hard work and leadership of 
Senator Sanders.
  Dr. Joanne Li is a native of Hong Kong and became University of 
Nebraska Omaha's Chancellor in July 2021. She is the first woman of 
color to serve as UNO chancellor and the first Asian-American in the 
history of the University of Nebraska System to hold an executive 
leadership role. Dr. Li has a passion for serving learners of all ages 
among all social, cultural, and economic backgrounds.
  Born and raised in Hong Kong, Dr. Li's parents escaped Communist 
China as young teenagers. Education was not something her parents could 
afford for themselves. At a young age, Joanne yearned for a desire to 
see the world. She enjoyed literature written in different languages 
and dreamed of being something bigger than herself. Being a rebel at 
heart, she took a chance to join one of her best friends from Hong Kong 
and came to the U.S. to start her higher education journey.
  Receiving full ride scholarships throughout her higher education 
journey, Dr. Li graduated with summa cum laude with a major in finance 
and a minor in economics from Florida State University. Her Ph.D. is 
also from Florida State University, in Finance with a support area in 
Econometrics. As a Chartered Financial Analyst, Dr. Li's areas of 
research interests include corporate governance, executive 
compensation, banking and investments, and international finance. She 
has held faculty positions at institutions including Loyola University, 
Towson University, Wright State University, Florida International 
University, and UNO.

  In addition to her accomplishments as an administrator in higher 
education, Dr. Li is also a highly engaged leader and scholar who lends 
her experience to a wide array of causes and organizations including 
Women in Business (WiBe), the CNBC's Financial Wellness Council, the 
Higher Learning Commission's (HLC) Board of Trustees; the Board of 
Directors for the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities 
(CUMU); the Board of Directors for Opera Omaha; and the Board of 
Directors of the Omaha Symphony. She serves as a member of the European 
Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Global Network Americas 
Advisory Board; a founding member of the International Advisory Council 
of the Lisbon School of Economics and Management in Portugal and the 
National Sun Yat-Sen University in Taiwan. Most recently, Dr. Li joined 
the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's Board of Directors for the 
Omaha Branch.
  The death of his father due to a cardiac event is what drove Indian 
American Dr. Deepak Gangahar to become a Thoracic and Cardiovascular 
Surgeon with special emphasis on cardiac surgery. His mother, who had 
no formal schooling, was his confidant and trusted friend, ensuring Dr. 
Gangahar never felt lacking in any way.
  Dr. Gangahar completed medical school in India and immigrated to 
America in 1971 for post graduate education in General Surgery. He then 
pursued a fellowship in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the 
University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
  Having grown up in a small town and in an agricultural state, Dr. 
Gangahar and his wife found shared social values, work ethics and ideal 
opportunities in Nebraska. Dr. Gangahar and his colleagues cofounded 
the Nebraska Heart Institute and the Nebraska Heart Hospital in 
Lincoln, which became the premium group in Mid-West in the field of 
Adult Thoracic and Cardiovascular diseases from catheterbased 
interventions to Heart & Lung Transplantation and Mechanical Hearts. 
Now retired, Dr. Gangahar works with TeamMates, a school based 
mentoring program founded by Coach Tom and Nancy Osborne. In addition, 
he enjoys working with new Start-Up companies, primarily in the medical 
field to make healthcare safer and efficient.
  Dr. Gangahar credits who he is today to the value he got from his 
parents, mentoring from his teachers and elders, and the opportunity of 
freedom to choose from his country of choice, the United States of 
America.
  Chinese American Hong Zheng came to the United States in 1992 at the 
age of 19. He opened his first Chinese restaurant in Missouri 1998 and 
subsequently moved to Omaha in 2000 to start new restaurants and a 
grocery business. He currently owns seven Asian restaurants and five 
Asian Chain Supermarkets across the Midwest region.
  He has been an active member in Nebraska Chinese Association since 
2008 and was elected as Chairman of Board for NCA for four years. He 
has been an Honorable Chairman since then and currently serves on the 
Board of Directors for Bellevue University.
  Hong says he appreciates the opportunity to live the American dream, 
especially as he knows how difficult it can be for new immigrants to 
adapt and thrive in a foreign country. That is why he serves his 
community--to give back and assist other immigrants and help them 
succeed.
  In 2019, Hong helped raise money for local flood victims and in 2020 
he coordinated the donation of over 25,000 masks and PPE to local 
health clinics and hospitals. He sponsored the One Community Culture 
Festival in 2019 and 2022 to celebrate culture and diversity. Finally, 
he has sponsored scholarship programs at Bellevue University for local 
and international students in need since 2019.
  Born and raised in Vietnam during the war, Huong Truong understood 
the importance of responsibility to her family and helping with 
household tasks while also attending school 5 kilometers away. She is 
an avid reader and sports enthusiast who gained a deeper understanding 
of American people, customs, and history. She was so impressed by the 
intelligence and emotional deaths of Americans,

[[Page E373]]

which led her to pursue her American dream, arriving in the United 
States in 2001.
  In one year, Huong earned $42,000 from her job and was able to buy a 
house and car for her family. She then became the owner of a nail salon 
and met her husband, Nick. Together they operate King Kong Restaurant 
and have three daughters and a son.
  Huong is very passionate about helping others and volunteering is a 
personal mission for her. She is currently helping six families who are 
facing difficult circumstances, including a 107 year old woman who 
needed assistance with money and medicine. Huong said she feels blessed 
by God with good health and a kind heart and is grateful to America for 
giving her the opportunity to live her dream.
  Born in North Korea in 1938, Sung Jo and his family fled to South 
Korea in 1946 to join his father, who had fled a year earlier after 
facing arrest from Communist police. His father's crime? Giving a 
speech celebrating the liberation from 35 years of Japanese rule-
something we call freedom of speech.
  At 21 years old, Sung Jo was drafted by the Korean Army and served 
for 18 months. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in English 
Literature in 1963. He started working for the Holt Adoption Program in 
Seoul and went to the United States in 1967 and was responsible for 
bringing orphaned Korean children to their adoptive parents. His family 
joined him in July 1969, and he became a U.S. citizen in 1974.
  Sung Jo started working at Nebraska Machine Production in 1972 and 
served as Chair of the Korean Association of Nebraska from 1995 to 
1996, and as a member of the Board of Directors in 1997. In 2002, he 
volunteered as an interpreter at the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan in 
South Korea and from 2003 to 2014 he served as the Chair of the Omaha 
Korean American Senior Group.
  In 2005 he became a Lifelong member of the National Korean War 
Veterans Association and received a citation in 2007 from the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs for his services to the Korean American community. 
He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Korean War 
Veterans Association.
  Sung Jo wanted to continue to serve as a liaison between the Korean 
War Veterans Association and Korean American community, so he donated 
face masks for Korean War veterans who could not leave their homes 
during the COVID pandemic.
  I salute and thank each of these six honorees for their service and 
dedication to not only Asian Pacific communities and the Second 
District of Nebraska, but to America.

                          ____________________