Fundraising/Initial Project Update

Tonight, Kyle and I met with the Japanese members of MEESA for our weekly meeting.  A number of things were discussed, but here's a rundown on points of interest for people who have contributed or donated:

1.)The Teachers For Japan initiative has just in the past day or so cleared US$10,000 in donations collected, which has come from small individual donations from people in five different countries.  About US$1500 worth has already been spent on our initial project.  We hope in the near future to be able to increase this amount via greater exposure.

2.)Said $1500 has been used to purchase 350 sets of basic school supplies for elementary school students in Miyagi.  The sets were purchased at discounted prices from local suppliers and also include some donated items.  We would like to thank the following companies/individuals for their generous assistance in helping to obtain these supplies:

iropen.com　http://iropen.com/
Daiichi Progress Inc.　http://www.ichipro.co.jp/
Seisa Kokusai High School　http://www.seisa.ed.jp/
Ms. Eri Osada

The sets comprise rulers, pencils, pens, erasers, notebooks, pencil leads, and protractors, all of which are necessary items for elementary school students to have.  We hope to donate them shortly to needy students at an elementary school in one of the tsunami-stricken areas of Miyagi, and to tell you more about the specific students your donation has helped when we do so.

3.)We have also accepted donations of some additional school supplies/educational items including pencil cases and three boxes of books.  These will also be donated to local schools.

4.)We have set out several additional projects on which to spend the remainder of the money, including earmarking donations to schools to fix particular problems the government reconstruction effort may not cover and identifying and assisting needy kindergarten students with tuition costs.  More information will be forthcoming on these projects as they develop.

I will post more updates, including photos and videos, to the blog, Facebook page, YouTube channel, etc. over the next few days.  Please keep checking in!

-Greg

The "PayPal Is Displaying In Japanese" Problem

We've had numerous reports of the PayPal page coming up in Japanese when people click on the button on the website to donate, and after much inquiry we think we have identified the problem.  I will be putting my limited HTML and web design skills toward attempting to resolve it shortly and hopefully by tomorrow it will no longer be an issue.  In the meantime, if you see a bunch of Japanese text pop up on the PayPal page, don't fret - you're in the right place as long as you have the following at the top of the page:

NPO法人宮城英語教育支援協会(MEESA)

To the right of this text should be a small putton that says either the name of your language or "日本語".  This is a button to toggle between languages and if you click on it you should be able to change the language in which donation instructions are displayed.

-Greg

UPDATE:

Fixing this problem has turned out to require some rather annoying and roundabout HTML coding which might take a bit of time to get working correctly. In order to avoid bringing down the channels for donations that DO work, I'm going to avoid updating the site until I get all the bugs worked out - hopefully that will be within the next few days. - Greg

School Supplies Project Update

Members of MEESA have been hard at work putting the money we have collected so far to use, and their efforts are bearing fruit on this project.  They have made an arrangement to buy some notebooks, pencils, and other supplies at cost and in bulk and are going to have them shipped up here to Sendai, where they will then be distributed to children currently living in shelters in Natori.  School will begin by the end of the month in Miyagi, even for children who lost their homes, so the supplies will be needed soon, and this way families that lost everything they own will not have to worry about paying for them.

We hope to have more specific information on how many supplies we deliver and which schools/students we deliver them too shortly.  Thanks for helping us (and these kids) out!

Major Website Update

I've just completed a fairly major overhaul of the main page of the website - as has been suggested by several friends I've added additional PayPal links via which people can donate in currencies other than US dollars, as well as links to MEESA's homepage and blog, new photos, and a more streamlined look.  In the coming days, I intend to make additional improvements, including adding a donation tracker that will indicate how much we have collected, more information on our initial projects, and publishing Japanese and possibly Spanish versions of the page.  I've also approved the initial round of guestbook entries we've received.  Kyle and I will also be doing some interviews over the next few days to try to raise the profile of the site and get more money coming in.  Keep on the lookout for updates over the next few days!

-Greg

Initial Project Update

Today Kyle and I met with Shoko-san and Shoichiro-san, two of the Japanese members of our effort, to discuss a number of subjects, among which were ideas for initial projects for our effort.  We all feel like we should start getting some of the money we've collected so far (about US $1700) out the door and into efforts to help people, and while some of our more ambitious projects will require more money and more time to get going, there are things we can do in the short term.  Here are two ideas for things we'd like to do in the next week or so:

1.)Deliver a shipment of clothes, books, and basic educational supplies to families with school-aged children who are currently living in shelters.  We have some clothes collected already and are working on getting books and supplies now, with a view to transporting them out to shelters in Ishinomaki by early next week.

2.)Helping to re-stock the Kesennuma mobile library (bookmobile).  It was hit by the tsunami and while the vehicle itself seems to have survived, the books inside did not; donating some books to it will be a good, easy way to provide people in one of the most heavily stricken areas of Miyagi with access to books over the next several weeks and months.

We will begin working on more extensive projects once we collect a bit more money and identify people most in need and how to help them.  We will also be updating the website with additional features aimed at letting people know how much money we've collected and how it's being used, including a donor registry and photos from current projects.  Keep following the blog for updates!

-Greg

Great News

We've all been very busy over the past few days, with Kyle working with Muro-san and Tosa-san to get the PayPal paperwork straightened out, while I've continued to work on establishing alternate donation channels (we hope to make donations by check possible soon) when not volunteering along with our friends Wade and Sarah.  The former effort has now paid off - our PayPal donation channel is up and running!  Please check out the website to donate.

The amount of devastation here is genuinely staggering, but given that we're starting to chip away at it the despair and discouragement you might expect are not among the emotions I feel.  I'm reminded of a phrase from singer Bruce Cockburn, via U2:

"Got to kick the darkness 'till it bleeds daylight." 

-Greg