Montebello Sister City Association

Since the inception of the Montebello/Ashiya Sister City Association, Yae Aihara has been a “pillar” member. The program has seen nearly 200 exchange students, numerous Association Presidents, and countless number of members at large. During all of this, one of the constants has been Yae Aihara. Yae has held the position of Treasurer for 51 years and has been a liaison to our counterparts in Ashiya. Many of the families in Ashiya know Yae personally which provides a level of comfort to the parents of the students coming to Montebello. During her involvement, Yae has opened her home by hosting many Japanese students. She is one of the only Japanese speaking Montebello residents in our association which has made the non‐ English speaking students more comfortable during their stay. Yae has stepped in and hosted students whenever there was a shortage of families or whenever a host family had vacation plans or a conflict during their week. She and her late husband, Louie, are outstanding examples of the type of host family our association expects to place our visiting students with. It seems very fitting to name this financial award after our very own Yae Aihara. The association has found it somewhat difficult to persuade families to volunteer to host a student which could be for many reasons. The recent change in the economy and considering the socio‐economic level of our residents, one of the primary reasons might be the additional cost that is incurred while hosting a visiting student (i.e. food, entertainment, etc).   The Yae Aihara Host Family Scholarship is awarded to the 6 families planning on hosting each year. The amount of the award to be given to each family is $100 for each week they host.