Akihiro Kubota
Where might a guy who had been born in Cebu, Philippines, of Japanese and Filipino descent, go to work abroad if he had a hankering to? Well, that guy might come to his ancestors’ homeland of Japan with nothing but a big back pack! And that’s exactly what Aki Kubota did in late 2006 when he decided to leave a stable, seven year job in IT and make a major life change. Aki is our Stellar Volunteer this month and Tokyo became his new home when he arrived to create a new life and build a career that brought him to Ascendant Business Solutions (ABS) in 2007. Aki told us that “During my final job interview here in the company, I was told that I would also be involved with the Tyler Foundation. It sounded exciting for me since I had never been involved with NPOs before, even from an IT standpoint.” Mark Ferris, Chairman of ABS and Founder and Director of the Tyler Foundation told us “Aki has done an amazing job as our Tyler Foundation internal IT guru ensuring our newsletters are properly dispatched and our website has all the functionality it needs. Much of this has been done under aggressive deadlines and yet he always gets things done in the end. And he’s been a patient ‘teacher’ to our staff on matters of IT!”
“When people outside of the Tyler Foundation think of volunteering - images of working with children, helping out with our kids' events at the hospital or Shine On! House or helping out with our fundraisers are probably the first few things to come to mind. However, very few people know that ALL of our IT-related "stuff" is thanks to one very talented and humble man, Aki Kubota. Without him, you wouldn't be able to make pledges on the website to support sports people, our newsletter would not get distributed, and the whole, magical workings of the website would just not happen,” said Kim Forsythe, Executive Director of the Tyler Foundation.
“It’s just always about giving,” Aki told us. Aki has a long history of doing work to help others. “Being a Catholic student, I used to do some volunteer work for my religious classes while I wasn’t practicing with the soccer varsity team or doing activities on the math club and school newspaper. There was a program called ‘Adopt a Brother/Sister’ and we would visit elementary schools in the slum areas of the city. We went there not to only enrich their lives and help them follow their dreams through education, but to also entertain them.” Bringing that early experience into the present, Aki told us that his work with the newsletters and website gives him “a warm feeling seeing all the happy faces in the pictures. Especially the smiling faces of the children in the hospital as I know the Foundation is making everything possible for them. I think every task I have done for the Foundation has focused on the care for children suffering from cancer. Every event that I have helped set up online has helped bring in donations.”
Not surprisingly, in his spare time, Aki tries to stay away from the computer! Instead you might find him out and about in Tokyo at a park, singing karaoke, or dining at an izakaya with friends. He remains an active soccer player but also enjoys art (including drawing and painting his own), photography, reading and playing guitar.
Aki has been the “man behind the scenes” for the Tyler Foundation for several years. So it is with bittersweet feelings we say mata ne to Aki as he relocates back to the Philippines in July to handle his family business. He’ll be going back to where the smell of the salt air and feel of the white sands will be so different from Tokyo! Of his time with us he says, “I have enjoyed my time and will most certainly miss working with the people of Tyler Foundation. They are one of the nicest and diligent people I have ever worked with and a great pleasure of having had the chance to work with them the past three years. We bid a fond farewell and recognize Aki for all his excellent work. Kim offered that “The Tyler Foundation can’t thank Aki enough for the work he has done for us with patience and dedication. To say we are grateful for Aki's time - which he has given freely for years - is not nearly enough. Better to say the website and newsletter - the very face of the Tyler Foundation to the outside world - would not be as it is without Aki. Aki we have been very lucky indeed to have had you as our IT volunteer extraordinaire, thank you, thank you, and all the best as you move on to your next adventure!