The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) honored four Chinese Americans for their contributions to the local Chinese community on Thursday.

This year's honorees are Y.C. Chen, president of the J.T. Tai & Co Foundation; Betty Lee Sung, former chairwoman of the of the Asian American/Asian Research Institute; Veronica Tsang, senior vice-president of eastern regions at Cathay Bank; and Jennifer Chin Dussich, founder and president of JCC Maintenance Supply LLC.

"When we talk about heroines in our community, we need to ask ourselves questions about what defines the MOCA community," Maasbach said at Thursday evening's ceremony at the Golden Unicorn restaurant in Chinatown.

"The MOCA community is not defined by geography, is not defined by power, is not defined by birthplace," she said. "The MOCA community is defined by the recognition of struggle, is defined by the pursuit of understanding, and is defined by the celebration of understanding and the celebration of achievement."

Tsang, who has worked at Cathay Bank for a decade out of its Flushing, Queens, headquarters, runs all the branches in the eastern region. The bank was founded in 1962 in California and is one of the oldest Chinese-American banks in the US.

Tsang said she was honored that MOCA sees her as a community hero. "To me, I'm just doing my job and doing what I enjoy doing, which is working at the bank and helping the community, because to me, when the community is thriving, we all thrive. We're part of the community," she told China Daily.

Tsang works with corporate, retail, and private banking customers at Cathay, making sure that the branches in the eastern region - New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Boston, and Texas - grow and develop their businesses.

She is also actively involved in the local community, working as vice chairwoman on the board of the Chinese-American Planning Council, as well as one of the founders of the Chinese Gift of Life organization, a non-profit that provides free open heart surgery in the US to needy children from all over the world.

Tsang, who worked at JP Morgan Chase prior to her time at Cathay Bank, has lived in Flushing for more than 25 years, coming to the US as a teenager from Hong Kong.

"When MOCA asked me whether they can honor me, I was very humbled," she said. "I felt that it was no big deal; it was work that I was already doing everyday, and I do it because it's what I want to do, not because I want to be honored," she said.

Dussich runs JCC Maintenance Supply LLC, a janitorial supply company that works with the city government, commercial buildings and residential buildings across the tri-state area. The company is based in College Point, Queens, and Dussich is based in Manhattan.

Dussich said that she is a longtime supporter of MOCA and its mission to document Chinese-American history.

"I never considered myself a leader," she said. "I'm very flattered and truly humbled that MOCA thinks so highly of me and what I've done for the community."

Dussich also is a volunteer at the Central Presbyterian Church on the Upper East Side, involved with children's programs, and she and her husband are contributors to the Diabetes Research Institute.

"I consider myself very lucky to be born and raised in America, and I realize that there are still people who made that journey today," she said. "Life is not easy, and if there's a way I can help Chinese or those in the community that need that help, why shouldn't I? I'm very grateful to those that gave us that little bit of help when we were growing up."

Hong Xiao in New York contributed to this story.

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com