morgan hill those who do
Morgan Hill’s Sister Cities
Headford, Ireland
Mizuho, Japan
San Casciano, Italy
San Martín de Hidalgo, Mexico
Seferihisar, Turkey
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“This is a once-in-a-
lifetime opportunity for
our youth to connect on
a personal level and gain
a true understanding of
youth in other cultures.”
Judy Little
TOP: Morgan Hill high school students visit Mizuho in 2012.
ABOVE: Middle school students prepare for their July 2014
visit to Mizuho, let by Judy Little, standing.
Building a Bridge from Morgan Hill to Mizuho
2003 The Morgan Hill chapter of Sister Cities International is established.
2006 The Little’s join the chapter. Morgan Hill and Mizuho become sister
cities. A quilt exchange is established.
2007 Preparations are completed for the student exchange program.
2008 Mizuho students make their first visit to Morgan Hill.
2009 The Little’s and Chaperone Cindy van Rhijn take their first group of
Morgan Hill students to Mizuho.
2010 Judy Little is named an Honorary Citizen of Mizuho.
2011-15 The Morgan Hill relationship with Mizuho continues to flourish
and grow.
2016 The Little’s are laying the groundwork to host Mizuho’s Mayor during
the week of Freedom Fest.
G M H T O D A Y M A G A Z I N E
MARCH / APRIL 2015
gmhtoday.com
PROGRAM
Presbyterian Church where they serve
dinner and spend time with kindergartners
every Friday night. They also volunteer
at the Buddhist Community Center in
Morgan Hill where they spend time with
senior citizens. Judy noted that the Buddhist
Community Center has hosted an annual
Japanese cultural event for more than
50 years.
“It’s probably the longest-running
cultural event in the South County,” Judy
said. “There are Taiko drums and martial
arts demonstrations, traditional Asian
foods and a farmers’ market. The event
also honors local WWII Japanese-American
veterans with an exhibit of photos, letters
and artifacts on loan from the Morgan Hill
Historical Museum.”
In the aftermath of the 2011 earth-
quake and tsunami that devastated
Japan, Judy launched a fundraiser. “The
people of Mizuho had learned about the
spirit of volunteerism from their Sister
Cities connection with us. Before that,
volunteering and fundraising to help others
outside of one’s family was not part of
their culture. Some of the money we raised
paid for gas so the people of Mizuho could
make the 7-hour trip to Fukushima to
help the survivors. They even ‘adopted’ a
kindergarten class there to help them during
the recovery.”
The Littles were nominated by their
peers and honored for their philanthropy
and volunteer work by the Morgan Hill
Community Foundation at its Philanthropist
of the Year awards event in 2012.
Judy and Murv met and married in
Idaho in the 1960s and moved to Morgan
Hill in 1988. Last year they celebrated
their 53rd wedding anniversary. While
Judy carved out a professional career as a
paralegal and Murv worked as a nuclear
engineering consultant after serving in
the Navy, the two are now enjoying
retirement. But when it comes to serving
the community, they aren’t showing signs
of slowing down any time soon. We are
fortunate to have them in our midst.