Our story goes back to 1941. The attack on Pearl Harbor turned public opinion against all Japanese living in the United States, even against the Nisei (American born Japanese). Within just a few months after the outbreak of war, President Roosevelt's Executive Order #9066 dated February 19, 1942, moved all Japanese from the Pacific Coast to one of ten hastily built relocation camps in the inland states.
When they were finally released from the camps in 1945, anti-Japanese sentiment was still strong. Homeless in their own country, they were broke and without a source of credit. The housing shortage in Southern California was very severe in post war Los Angeles. Housing and job discrimination was pervasive. It was almost impossible to rent living quarters and few had enough money to buy a home.
In 1945, among those who were temporarily housed at the Centenary Methodist Church, a group banded together and started a Tanomoshi Club which was a neighborhood aid program based on mutual trust and compassion for the welfare of the group. Each Tanomoshi Club member contributed an equal share into a monthly "pot" and at its monthly meetings; any member in need of a financial loan would make a bid for the month's pot.