CUPERTINO — Santa Clara County Board of Supervisor Liz Kniss (District 5) honored 12 local individuals and groups at her ninth annual Asian Hero Award luncheon on Oct. 27 at Hong Fu Restaurant in Cupertino.

In the "organization or agency" category, Kniss selected Midori Kai, a Japanese American professional women's organization, for the work that it does for the community.

Recently, Midori Kai assisted Cupertino-based West Valley Community Services (WVCS) in its Diaper Drive, collecting over 7,000 diapers.

Midori Kai also supports many other local non-profit service organizations from the proceeds of its yearly boutique, held at Mountain View Buddhist Temple.

Among those attending the luncheon were Midori Kai President Vicky Wynne, Midori Kai directors Sally Takemoto and Joyce Iwasaki, WVCS Executive Director Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto (also a Midori Kai director), and Michelle Ma of WVCS.

For more information on the two organizations, visit www.midorikai.com and www.wvcommunityservices.org.

Also recognized in the "organization or agency" category was the India Community Center of Milpitas.

Sangha Crafters of San Jose and the Chinese Ethnic and Cultural Advisory Committee of Santa Clara were honored in the "team" category.

Individual awardees were as follows:

Arts — Dr. Masato "Marty" Matsuo of Saratoga and Charlie Tawaga of Cupertino.

Education — Eleanor Watanabe of Los Altos and Lynette Lee Eng of Los Altos.

Health and human services — Matra Majmundar of Palo Alto and Nguyet-Anh Le of San Jose.

Leadership — Steve Ting of Cupertino and Tong Liu of Santa Clara.