CONTRIBUTED BY AMANDA MARSHALL
I just returned from another trip to volunteer in the tsunami relief work along the coast of mainland Japan. You may have read the previous post here.
Instead of doing cleanup work in Sendai again, on this trip we were visiting survivors in Fukushima who are now in temporary housing units. While they have a roof over their heads, albeit tiny, the walls are incredibly thin. After spending a week in them, I can personally tell you they are freezing inside.
Fukushima Temp Housing
While many of you cannot come volunteer there is another crucially important way to help: Would you, your family, group of friends, or church community consider donating warm blankets and/or quilts to be delivered to the survivors?
Not only is it a gift to receive physical warmth for the very cold winter months, it is also a gift to know that they are not forgotten and are being thought of and cared for by their neighbors in Okinawa.
Fukushima Child
One of the greatest parts of volunteering this past week was seeing how much joy survivors had simply because we had traveled to see them. Many are dealing with depression, so the potential joy you can give them through the gift of blankets is far greater than may be perceived.
Thank you so much for giving of yourselves to help those who are still surviving the disaster from the March 11, 2011 Earthquake & Tsunami.
Please email me if you would like to help. Thank you!!
amanda.suzanne.marshall@gmail.com
I would like very much to donate a few blankets, when & where do I bring them? Is there anything else such as jackets, sweaters/sweatshirts/sweatpants, hoodies, gloves, socks/tights/leggings. etc?
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I think we all would LOVE to help and this is doable for most of us.
I would love to send blankets your way! Will be contacting you after I post this <3 Thank you for sharing this, Being stateside now, I don't get to hear much about what is happening in Japan.
I was gifted an over abundance of receiving blankets from my baby shower and was wondering if those would be a good donation. I would also donate more items if needed as well. Please inform as to how we can all donate! Thanks! I couldn’t think of a better way to start 2012!
I emailed her and this was her response:
The organization I’ve been working with who will be collecting and distributing the blankets on mainland needs many warm blankets to hand out now through the winter. They are stressing the need for warmth.
The address to send them to is:
Crash Japan Nasu Base
c/o House of Rest
586-889 Takaku Otsu,
Nasu-machi, Nasu-gun
Tochigi-ken
325-0303
JAPAN
Thank you so so much again for helping! I’ll be collecting any remaining blankets to send out myself in about two weeks as well.
Merry Christmas!
Amanda