Total Donation Amount on Mar. 19!!!!

        

Total CAD$1519.60!!!!!!

Oh My Goddddddddddddddddddddddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its almost double the amount we collected on the day before which was combined from country club and TOMO Sushi!!

Wow, wow, wow…….

IT IS AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can’t think of anything to say other than THANK YOU ALL SO MUSH FOR THE DONATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This result will for sure motivate our project team and encourage them to keep on going forward!!!!!!!!

Those who donated didn’t just donate but seemed willing to know what is actually going on in Japan.  They want to know the information so that they have a better understanding on this disaster and want us to share how we feel about the disaster. People in Nanaimo are sweet, warm and of course SUPER!!!!!

We are also proud that we tried so hard to promote our project thorough different types of media and by communicating with local people to gain their awareness of what is happening Japan right now and so we need their help. Even though some of our team members are not yet 100% comfortable with speaking in English with native speaker, they tried their best to send local people here in Nanaimo their messages and real voices from people in Japan.

Good Job for all the team members!!!!! We couldn’t have collected this much without any one of you.

You gouys ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Canadian Red Cross is with Us!!!!!!

Good morning everyone!!

I have an important news to tell you today.
We finally got a backup support from Canadian Red Cross  few days ago!!

We actually have been negotiating with them about what they can do for us and what we are supposed to do for them if we got the support.
Fortunately, they are actually willing to help us out and so negotion went really smoothely.
So now we have a support from Canadian Red Cross.
All the donation we grecieve will go to Canadian Red Cross, and Canadian Red Cross will transfer the money to Japanese Red Cross later on.

We would like to say thank you to Canadian Red Cross for all your understanding and full full support for us.

Also, thanks for those who were involoved in this task, Song, Yoshi, and Mai!!
 You guys rock!!

We will keep you guys updated on fund raised on each day  from now on too!!
Please check it out!!

The amount of donation collected on Mar.18

CAD$792.05!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yayyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!! It's over $700!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We combined the donation from contry club and Tomo Sushi 1808 Bowen Road today because the collection box at Tomo sushi was aleady full!!
It's surprising that the box's got aleady filled up this quick!! Thank you so much for people who donated at Tomo Sushi for us and for the restaurant to let us place the collection box for Japan!!
I can't say anything other than "thank you."

The donation collected at the mall is also coming back to increase!!
It's gotta be thanks to the smiles of the group members who are in charge of "donation" as a whole.

Well, we will keep on going!! Stay strong Japan!! We are with you!!

Today's activity of fund raising!! No.2

This is the pocture of meeting. They are so seroius at the time.
They always have someting to discuss so that they can improve how to promote this project in the local community.
These three are...
from the left Anna, Kwon, Sachi, and there is a girl back there she is Satomi.
They are all so passionate about this project so they always have a meeting. Yup, IT IS "meeting" they say.

This is when the leader of dropping collection boxes off, who is Toshi, was being interviewed by one of the TV program.

We forgot to get the information on the programm, so if somebody knows, please let me know!!



This is when the two girls were talking to one of the girls who came to help us.

These two girls were...

from the left, Anna in Yukata which used to be Pajama to go to sleep. and Yurina who is looking good in Pink!!

The last picture!! He's just donated for Japan!! Thank you very much!!

So this is how it looks at the mall!! We, all the staff members who were there, had a lot of fun having conversation with local people and tried our best to tell them what is happenning in Japan right now and why we are doing this.

 Thank you for coming to the mall!!

Thank you for coming to donate!!

And thank you for coming to give us and Japan huge smiles!!

We all appreciate it a lot!!

And, the group's done super good job!! Thank you so much!!

Those who were not in the photoes, it'll be your turn next!! :)

Our Team Leader!!

We created a character for our Japanese version of Stand Up for Japan.which is calles pigu.
The character symbolizes our project leader Yoshi.











This is YOSHI everyone!! Attention!! THIS IS YOSHI!!!!!

If you saw somebody who looks exactly like him, just say "Hey Yoshi!! What's up!?" so that
he will give you some extremely hilarious jokes for ya!!

Today's activity of fund raising!! No.1

Hi there!!
Alright so I will talk about what the fundraising group on 18th of Mar.
Yup!! You guys are the main today told ya!!
There will be a lot of pictures so get ready for that!!
You like looking at the pictures right??

K, then this is the day before yesterday

↑This is the the desk for the donation. There is a board wth pictures of current conditions in Japan.

Here is the close up on the board!!↓



The island of Japan is made with the origami paper cut in maple shapes (MOMIJI in Japanese).

Isn't it looking amazing!?



These are the donation boxes that the group members made!!

It's got cranes and ninja stars on so that it looks more Japanese like and cute!!!

Yup, we made a lot of visuals for people to look at so that they will be more intserested in what we are doing and what the desaster really looks like...

Ok, so those are the things that we use to get people's attentions and ask for some help fro us!!

To Be Continued....

Total Donation Amount on Mar. 17

CAD$643.71!!!!!!!!

Good work!!
This is combined amount of country club donation and viu high school donation.
We still keep the donatio amount higher than $600 which is amazing!!
To be honest, the amount we can collect at country club is getting less day by day.
However, there is something important in fund-raising besides collectiong money.
It is important to communicate with local people and talk to them about our feelings toward this devastating situation in Japan and why we are doing this.
That way, we can keep local people's awareness on this earthquake disaster and our project.
So... we won't be dispressed just because dnation collected everyday is decreasing.
This happenes for sure because we are fundraising only at the mall.
Instead of being negative, we will keep smiling and appeal to the local people.

Message group created a photo album on the picasa!!

This is an important notification from message group!!

The messages and pictures collected will be uploaded on picasa from now on which is a web photo album.
Please enjoy the happy smiles!!

P.S. Good work message group!!

A week since the disaster happened...

First of all, we are so sorry for the people who lost and/or are still looking for their loved ones to this devastating disaster.

Today, I would like to introduce one of the messages that I recieved  from a student who supports our project.

I feel life is a bit unstable right now with the strike lasting for a week, Japan in disastrous conditions, people fighting for their survival and a potential nuclear warning for the West coast. I don't believe that the amount of radioactive air or water that eventually will come our direction will do us any harm..we are far away. I pray for the suffering people in Japan and for their loved ones who are in shock and fear. I have realized once again how fragile and precious our lives really are-this is why we got to cherish what we have and feel gratitude for our life as it is. 

Love, Nadine

Debuted on Local News TV Program!!

Hi Everyone!!
As the title says, our project team was featured in one of the TV program "CHECK News" ch6 yesterday at 5pm!!(just a little bit though...)

Of course you guys have checked it out right??
・・・・・・・・・・・・what? No?

Well, DON'T WORRY!!
I've recorded the TV so that I can share with you guys!!
BUT, the qulity is not THAT good cuz I recorded on my phone...
anyways better than nothing!!
By the way, the memebr feartured on in this interview is our donation group's leader born-to-be high spirit girl, Sachiko Ishibashi!! Good job Sachi!!

Well, I think I keep you waiting long, so... this is the video!!
Enjoy!!

How was it!??
It's too short...?? well... I told ya...
We make importance on quantity rather than quality just so you know.

...Did you notice something wrong in the video?

Yea her name!! Not Sachiko VASHI but Sachiko ISHIBASHI!!!!

somehow the reporter must've misheard Sachiko.
She became famous as Sachiko Vashi... well it can't be helped so admitt it Sachi.
You are Ms. Vashi from now on.

Sorry that I got sidetracked.
Even though the video was too short, I hope the viewers got our messeage.
We, as a relief project team for this disaster, want to tell you that we are doing this project because even if this is not gonna make the whole country change, we want to make some actions that can make our mother country Japan smile.

Today's Message Group's Activity

So, today’s blog focuses on the group collecting messages from local people at Country Club Mall. (Wait wait wait!! I know what you guys wanna say!! Don’t worry other groups will be focused on next I promise!!)

We got together and started asking for the cooperation from people at the mall form around 12pm to 2pm.

The group was so excited and passionate about this project and meeting with people and everything!!

But!! of course we wouldn’t’ forget the rule which is…. we have to be quiet and asking for a help from the people.  Awww… isn’t it hard to be quite for the group because they are always happy, energetic, and hyper!! Well… in this case, the group was able to handle themselves of course!! They sat at the table appealing for the customers of different stores with their killer smiles!!

And, it worked!!! People slowly started to come and give us messages for Japan. They came one after another until today’s activity has finished.

However…(what?) there is one thing we have to apologize to those who helped us with the messages….

We were staring so hard at them writing messages on a board!!!!!!

We were staring at them wondering what the messages are being provided.

We were staring at them being so touched by the fact that local people actually are willing to help us out.

We were staring at them just thinking that the girl who is writing the messages was super duper cutie!!!!!!!! etc…

ANYWAYS!!!!!! We stared at them so hard!! TOO HARD!!!!! they could’ve gotten burnt with all those eyes on them!!!!!

Well, next time, we will try to get eyes off of the supporters as much as we can and communicating more with them so that they can be more relaxed helping us out.  But if we can’t get eyes off of you just because you are too attractive not to look at, sorry about that!! We say sorry ahead of time!!

And, today’s final number of the pictures is…….17!!!!

17 pictures in 2hours!? Is it a lot? or NO? Well we have nothing to compare with, but let’s just pretend, it is a success!! Yay!! We all did a good job!!

Thank you so much for those who supported us at the mall including the staff of the mall, local people who gave us messages and the group of collecting donations sitting beside us!! That was a lot of help!!

And also I want to give you the magic number of today’s donation we could’ve collected today!!

It is……..

CAD$644.24!!!!!!!

in three hours!!

Wow… I can not say anything other than this…

It is amazing that local people are more than happy to cheer up Japan and that the group of collecting donation put so much effort on collecting this amount of donation in such a short time.  We really appreciate it.

So this is the wrap up of the day!!

Feel free to leave any comment on this entry. Thanks!!

First Day of the Project!!!

Today was the first day we took an action! And our day went pretty rough but productive.  The biggest news we have today is the amount of the donation we received from people in Nanaimo! The total amount of the very first day’s donation was……

CAD$1041.21!!!!!!!!!! (as of March 15th).

Regardless of the situation of our student group without official supports from any famous organizations, people in Nanaimo were very supportive for Japanese who are still suffering right now. They dropped some worm and caring words to all of us. All of the volunteers were very surprised with the incredible numbers of people supporting Japanese. We could not stop appreciating all the donors. Thank you. Thank you very much from bottom of our heart. This was the very motivating start for us as well to continue doing and helping Japanese from far west.

As we decided in the last meeting, the group has divided into major two groups: fundraising group and message group.

The fundraising group involves two parts

• Involving communities and setting up the donation boxes (Donation Box Team)
• Collecting donation by actively encouraging people in malls or on streets (Donation Team)

For the Donation Box team, the group had gathered and discussed about which restaurants they should approach and how they should approach. Because our university is currently on strike and we have not determined organization to work with such as Red Cross or World Vision, the team has struggling to exhibit our group’s credit or the process of money use.  Afterword, the group has directly contacted restaurants as many as they could think of. As a result, almost all Japanese restaurants in Nanaimo have approved to set up the donation boxes.  In addition, the Vietnamese restaurant “Huong Lan” and Dailey Queen indicated willingly supporting for the project. We really thank to all sponsors allowing us come in and set up the boxes with a short time notice today. With all sponsors’ permission, we would like to exhibit the list of our sponsors later on. Although some large scale companies asked about which NGO/NPO organizations we would be working with, the number of donation boxes was a great start.

With great effort from all groups of volunteer, Donation team carried out several activities in the day. We got a great support from the administration team at Countryclub Mall, and set up two donation tables inside the mall. There were many mall shoppers expressing their concern and making significant donation along with the best wishes for all the victims in Japan’s earthquake. Again, we will appreciate your continuous support!!

Besides monetary support, the message group tried to send supporting message to Japanese victims and to involve as many people as they can. With again the support from Country Club Mall, they are approved to set a spot and collect messages. The group has determined their goal as 1000 clicks of campaign on their Facebook fan page “VIU Message Project for Japan.” So far, we already have 118 LIKE!! If you check this website, please have a visit! Even though it has just been the second day of the project, we have already received 37 photos, yes, 37 photos!!!! And more importantly, these photo messages are written by friends from around the world, and definitely prove one commonality among all of us- WE ALL CARE NO MATTER WHERE ARE FROM. As you see the countless supports from all over the world, we say “it’s going to be fine! Japan!! So stay strong.” Ganbare Japan!

Stand Up for Japan!!

On March 11, a massive 8.9/9.0 magnitude earthquake hit the Pacific Ocean nearby North Eastern Japan causing damage with tsunami, blackouts, fire, and nuclear power plant explosion. According to BBC, the extremely destructive tsunami waves were about 7.3 meters (23.9 ft) travelled up to 10 km (6 mile) inland in 30 minutes after the earthquake. The tsunami swept out all the houses and cars and destroyed whole villages and cities. As of March 15, Japan National Police Agency reported that the number of people missing and the death accounted for about 6086, and the death in Miyagi region (the most damaged area) alone could reach 10,000. Also, the huge numbers of survivors have been gathered in school gyms, community buildings, and emergency shelters, and some who have failed to escape are still isolated and waiting to be rescued without any hope. Now, many people are still without fresh water, food, heat and electricity.

Stand Up for Japan is established by a group of Vancouver Island University Japanese students. On March 14, the first meeting was held to share information and feelings about this disaster and to discuss possible charity project. In the begging, the university faculty members and Tamagawa Gakuen University instructor facilitated the group discussion to start off. We found out that, in the group, some of us could contact family and friends, but some could not. Those who are still waiting for contacts shared their frustration of not being able to do anything, unlimited worries about their love ones, and sadness of losing hometowns. However, they indicated their positive attitude and many people discussed “even if it may be little, I wanted to do something.” After the meeting, the students who wanted to make an action have discussed what we can do now for Japan, and the Stand Up for Japan project has begun. The purpose of Stand Up for Japan project is to raise fund and to send messages for people who are suffering from the earthquake.

In this blog, we would like to share the process of this project. The blog will update the amount of money we have been raised, warm voices from people caring Japanese victims, supports we get from communities, and the use of the donation. After visiting this website, please share this website/project with your family and friends. We really appreciate your all support, comment and donation.