Sister city auction coming June 9

MOSES LAKE — It takes a lot to keep a sister city relationship going.

And after a trip to Japan earlier this year, Moses Lake Mayor Karen Liebrecht has a renewed commitment to the city sister relationship with Yonezawa — especially the week-long exchanges of high school students that have filled summers since 1981.

“I have a desire to keep this program going,” Liebrecht said. “It’s important to them, and I want this to be important to us, to be something we pass on to our children.”

Liebrecht, along with Moses Lake resident Terry Moore, is helping to organize a fundraiser dinner and auction on Saturday, June 9, to help defray the costs of getting students to, from and around Japan and Washington.

Visiting in late April and early May, Liebrecht said she’d made the first trip to Japan by a Moses Lake mayor in eight years, and follows on the heels of a visit to Moses Lake by a delegation from Yonezawa last fall.

“We planned it more as a vacation, but Yonezawa took it as a mayor visit,” Liebrecht said. “They provided interpreters and a chaperone. They treated us so graciously, it was absolutely wonderful. They rolled out the red carpet on everything.”

Liebrecht said she now understands how important the sister city relationship is to Yonezawa, and how important it is to keep that relationship going.

Moses Lake and Yonezawa became sister cities in the late 1970s, in part because Japan Air Lines trained pilots at the Grant County International Airport.

Tickets for the dinner, which will be held at CBTECH on Yonezawa Boulevard, are $35 per person and $250 for a table of eight. Doors are slated to open at 5 p.m., with dinner beginning at 6 p.m., and the event will include a live auction, a silent auction, and a dessert auction as well.

Moore said among the items on sale are resort stays, catering, wine racks full of wine, pet grooming, and four hours of labor from the exchange students.

“All of the proceeds go to fund the kids to Japan,” she said.

While Japan Air Lines still provides tickets, money is still needed to pay taxes, fuel charges, meals, and train fare — especially on Japan’s efficient but expensive train system.

“It takes a lot to get kids there,” Liebrecht said.

For tickets, or more information about the fundraiser, contact Moore at 509-989-2287.

Editor’s note: A previous version of the story incorrectly listed the event location.