Mar 30

JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund Update: Nominated Relief Funds

Earthquake Tsunami, Fundraising Comments Off on JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund Update: Nominated Relief Funds

JETAA USA is in the process of figuring out the best use of the donations it has collected and is continuing to collect for the JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund.  Below is the latest from JETAA USA:

CLAIR NY has offered their guidance in helping JETAA USA make a decision. CLAIR NY will not have a vote in the final outcome, but will simply be providing their thoughts on the effectiveness, feasibility, etc. on the nominations that the chapters have submitted. Additionally, Charity Navigator is a useful online resource which shows the effectiveness of US NGOs. We are working on finding a similar resource for Japanese NGOs.

There were suggestions from a few different chapters that the fund be donated in memory of any JETs lost in the disaster. Chapters will have a chance to vote on this idea, although it’s not reflected in the below list. [Emphasis added by JETwit.]

Below are the nominated causes/ organizations for the JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund:

Akai Hane (Red Feather Community Chest): Akai Hane, or the Red Feather Community Chest of Japan, is a non-governmental organization that focuses on welfare work and a member of United Way Worldwide. Central Community Chest of Japan and each Local Community Chests are raising fund to support victims, and to support volunteer groups which are responding to the disaster.

AmeriCares: AmeriCares is in direct contact with local officials, evacuation shelters and hospitals treating the injured and caring for evacuees, and based on early assessments and the anticipated need for long-term humanitarian aid, they’ve expanded set up an office in Tokyo to coordinate relief efforts.  AmeriCares participated in the first inter-agency organizational meeting led by MOFA and included representatives of the Japanese Cabinet, UN agencies, and Japanese NGOs.

Association for Aid and Relief in Japan (AAR): Association for Aid and Relief, Japan (AAR JAPAN) mainly focus on the following activities: emergency assistance, assistance to persons with disabilities, and mine action. In response to the disaster in Japan, their Emergency Relief Team continues to visit welfare facilities for the aged and people with disabilities in the affected area to deliver food and fuel.

Community Project (Cause): With JET being an education- focused program, we’d like to identify a fund or organization focused on long-term rebuilding of schools in the affected areas (e.g. replenishing libraries, rebuilding institutions, installing student computers, providing teaching materials, playground equipment, etc). This also falls in line with JET’s mission of grassroots community involvement.

CRASH Japan: Christian Relief, Assistance, Support and Hope (CRASH) is a network supporting Christians to do relief work in Japan and around the world.  CRASH equips and prepares churches and missions to be there to help their communities when disasters strike and coordinates Christian volunteers to work with local ministries in the event of a disaster.

Direct Donation: Following an immediate donation to a disaster relief organization for the pressing needs, we would like the Fund continue to be maintained by JETAANY. We’d like the collection of donations to continue and those funds to go toward rebuilding the English program at the schools where the JET’s who were lost in this disaster worked.

Fukushima / Iwate / Miyagi Prefecture Direct Funds: Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi (separate accounts for donating to relief or reconstruction) have established direct donation accounts.

Habitat for Humanity: Habitat for Humanity International currently has an assessment team in Japan, and together with Habitat for Humanity Japan, are liaising with government authorities and other organizations on how to best support the relief effort. In the short-term, Habitat for Humanity expects its response to include mobilizing volunteers in Japan to work with other organizations in the relief operation, like beginning the clean-up process, and a longer-term plan will then be plotted, when the full extent of the damage is known and the best course of action identified.

Japan Platform: Japan Platform (JPF) is an international emergency humanitarian aid organization which offers more effective and prompter emergency aid, in response to the world situation, focusing the issues of refugees and natural disaster. JPF conducts such aid with a tripartite cooperation system where NGOs, business community, and government of Japan work in close cooperation, based on equal partnership, making the most of the respective sectors’ characteristics and resources.

Japan Red Cross: The Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) is scaling up its response to meet the needs of the affected population as well as assessing the situation at both national headquarters and branch level in the affected prefectures, to plan for the next phases of the humanitarian operation.

The Boston Foundation (via the Japan America Society of Boston): This fund was established last week at The Boston Foundation with an initial leadership grant of $100,000 from Atsuko and Lawrence Fish, who have also pledged to cover all administrative costs of the fund. Contributions to this fund are for immediate relief – not for long-term infrastructure recovery, which is seen as the responsibility of the government of Japan.

JEN: Japanese Emergency NGOs was founded as a coalition of relief workers with experience in overseas disasters. More than a decade ago, JEN became an independent NGO implementing disaster relief work. JEN is coordinating with local government and at the grassroots level to deliver blankets and food in the short term, and it has two teams in the affected areas assessing its long-term response.

Mercy Corps: Mercy Corps is working to help survivors of Japan’s earthquake and tsunami in cooperation with our longstanding partner, Peace Winds. Peace Winds continues to deliver emergency supplies — including large shelters, tents, blankets, instant rice and fresh produce — to families evacuated from homes in the tsunami-devastated city of Kesennuma. Mercy Corps has deployed our emergency team leader to help Peace Winds coordinate its lifesaving response.

Monty Dickson Fund: A to be established fund that will assist efforts to find Monty and to assist his family in their ongoing efforts to find Monty, a current JET participant who was teaching in Rikuzentakata on the day of the earthquake and tsunami – Rikuzentakata was destroyed by the tsunami.  Monty called friends from the town cultural hall after the earthquake, but has not been heard from since.

Nippon Foundation: The Nippon Foundation has extensive experience working with local partners to provide support after disasters such as the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995, and more recently the Mid Niigata Earthquake and Noto Peninsula Earthquake. The Nippon Foundation/CANPAN Northeastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund aims to provide both immediate aid as well as medium to long-term support to ensure a full recovery of the affected areas, in an accountable and timely manner.

Orphanages in Japan: Many children may have become parentless due to the natural disaster.  We should identify a fund or organization in Japan that supports orphans and orphanages long-term.

Oxfam Japan: Oxfam Japan will be working with two partners in Japan on providing support to those on the margins of society who might otherwise have difficulty accessing emergency relief. One group is assisting mothers and babies and the other is providing information to non-Japanese speakers living in Japan.

Peace Winds America: Peace Winds America is the US chapter of Peace Winds Japan, a Japanese NGO, and a partner of Mercy Corps, focusing their efforts on strengthening disaster management readiness in case of disasters in Asia. They are currently on the ground in Japan, and most recently are arranging a convoy of 10 trucks of supplies to Iwate and Miyagi, providing food, water, gas, blankets, clothing to at least 5 different affected communities (as of March 22).

Peace Winds Japan: Peace Winds Japan is one of the largest Japanese organizations providing humanitarian relief such as food, clothing, fuel and medical supplies to the affected areas.  It is also currently listed on Global Giving’s website as one of 7 ongoing projects in Japan in need of assistance.

Rehabilitation: Funds should go to an as yet unidentified group in Japan that provides long-term rehabilitation services for the disabled.

Riverside Sendai Relief Fund: Riverside and Sendai have been friends since 1951 and sister cities since 1957 in what is one of the oldest continuous sister city relationships in the United States.

Save the Children: Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organization for children, working in more than 120 countries. In Japan they have a 3 year plan strategy—based on initial assessments—to first help provide essential relief items and launch child protection activities, and then help restore children’s sense of security and normalcy and advocate for their inclusion in emergency preparedness planning.

Second Harvest: Second Harvest Japan distributes food to soup kitchens, orphanages, the elderly, emergency shelters, single mothers, the homeless, migrant workers, and many others.

UNICEF Japan: Japan Committee for UNICEF has been making a concerted effort to help affected children and their families by mobilizing its well-established network of partners, including the private sector, schools, religious groups and volunteers. The Committee is mobilizing assistance in the areas of maternal and child health, education and psychosocial support.

U.S. Japan Council: The U.S.-Japan Council Earthquake Relief Fund was established to collect donations that directly support immediate relief and the long-term rebuilding in Japan. 100% of all donations will go to directly to NGOs/NPOs in Japan.  On March 22, USJC announced that the first disbursement will go to two Japanese NGO platforms: The Japan Platform (JPF) and the Center for Public Resource Development (CPRD).