Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Harvest Pantry’s New Year’s Resolution: Gain Kilos
Harvest Pantry gained over 2,000 kilos over the holidays! This huge gain came in the form of canned and non-perishable food donated from school food drives.
Thanks to six schools in the Tokyo area last December, awareness, good will, and thousands of food items were raised for the Harvest Pantry. The American School in Japan (ASIJ) collected 750 kilos, Tokyo Korean School (TKS) 500 kilos, Nishimachi International School over 300 kilos, Camp Zama Middle School 250 kilos, Canadian Academy 280 kilos, and Seisen International School about 200 kilos.
Second Harvest Japan Executive Director Charles E. McJilton commented, “It is neat to see students make active contributions to the community. It helps them make a connection between their daily lives and those out there in need in Japan. It also reminds them that they can have a positive impact in the community they live in.”
In 2007, TKS doubled the food amount they collected from the previous year. To motivate their elementary students, they gave lottery tickets out for each item brought in and drew three winners at the end of the food drive. In addition, the teachers performed a dance routine to reward the students for collecting more than 2,000 food items.
Photo: Tokyo Korean School
TKS teacher Mark Valens said, “Students have positive memories about donating food to Second Harvest Japan, and they come away feeling good about themselves for making a difference in someone’s life. Nothing is better than that.”
In its sixth year of helping the hungry, ASIJ weighed in heavy. “Loading 750 kilos of food items in 2HJ’s truck was like trying to solve a rubik’s cube,” stated ASIJ Middle School Assistant Principal Meagan Pavey. “The sheer volume of food collected and all four divisions at ASIJ working together as a community were highlights this year.”
Photo: Meagan Pavey
At ASIJ, each division’s student government decided how food would be collected. The middle school’s Student Leadership Team held a competition between homerooms. Mr. Harris’s homeroom won. The group of 13 said, “We all tried our hardest. We thought about the people with no food, and we wanted them to have food for the holiday. Everybody should care about others.”
And it’s easy to do. Here are some pointers to run a successful food drive at your school, club, organization, sports team, or other community group.
- Contact 2HJ in advance to discuss needs and logistics
- Remember people are hungry all year round. Consider organizing food drives multiple times in a year
- Set clear start/end dates
- Quality control: Check collected items during and at the end of the food drive, and remove any expired or opened items. Since these items cannot be distributed, if donated they become a costly burden rather than a useful donation. Make this clear to students at the beginning
- Add the element of competition: Have classes/grades compete to see who can collect the most food
- Make it visible: Assign students to make eye-catching bulletin boards and decorated collection boxes
- Keep everyone posted: Post a tally sheet to show the amount of food collected in various categories so students can see what is still needed
- Hold kick-off and wrap-up events to educate students on hunger in Japan and to share the results
Writer: kmh
Link to News story »Tuesday, January 22, 2008
What is a food drive and how can you be a part of one?
A “food drive” is a volunteer activity in which people bring unneeded extra food from their homes to their school or office, where it is collected and distributed to local charitable organizations, facilities, and food banks. Food drives have been run successfully since the 1960s in the United States, where they originated, but in Japan the concept of food drives remains unfamiliar to many.
Over the past few years, however, this has gradually begun to change and food drives at work and school have become more common. Curves Japan, which owns and operates the women’s fitness club chain “Curves,” ran a food drive campaign in November 2007 calling on members at all of its 600 locations across Japan to bring food in.
Requiring only that the items be unopened, non-perishable at room temperature, and with an expiration date of February 2008 or later, Curves reportedly collected about 50 tons of rice, coffee, tea, sweets, and other canned, dry, and instant food items. This was then distributed to 300 local child-care facilities, churches, and single-parent support organizations.
Curves Japan found that many of their contributing members had wished for a long time that they could offer some assistance to those around them in need, but had simply never seen or had an opportunity to do so before the food drive. As volunteer activities that are easy to participate in and offer a direct connection to the local community, food drives are surely only going to become more popular as time goes on and people in Japan become more familiar with the concept.
Second Harvest Japan (2HJ) is delighted to offer know-how and advice for organizations running food drives or who would like to host a food drive. Food drives of various kinds have already been run in the Japanese offices of many major multinational companies. One international IT firm’s Japan branch ran a “rice drive,” asking their employees to bring rice to the office. Another company launched a food drive after a 2HJ volunteer who worked there made the suggestion to management.
“We bought too much canned food on sale and I don’t think we can finish it…”
“Our family receives so many gifts of tea that we just can’t drink it all…”
...Are you sure there isn’t any extra food lying around like this in your kitchen too? Why wait for it to pass its expiration date and be thrown out when you could put it to good use in a food drive?
Writer: Etsuko Ohara
Photos: Curves Japan
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Nu Skin Japan donates freezer/refrigerator vehicle!
This week 2HJ’s first freezer/refrigerator vehicle was delivered. The 1.5-ton vehicle, donated by sponsor Nu Skin Japan, will allow 2HJ to pick up a greater variety of frozen/chilled foods and provide them to those in need in Japan. A big thanks to Nu Skin Japan!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
2HJ’s TV commercial wins copper award
On November 16, 2007, at the Japan Advertisers Association’s 47th “Advertisement Beneficial to Consumers” Contest, 2HJ’s TV commerical received the copper award for the public sector. The commercial was produced with the help of Beacon Communications and many other contributors. 2HJ would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who made this commercial possible.
Executive Director Charles McJilton accepted the award
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Morgan Stanley and 2HJ: A different kind of long-term investment
It is with these terms that the relationship between 2HJ Japan and Morgan Stanley in Japan could be described best. 2HJ was in its early days, and Morgan Stanley Japan was setting up its local Corporate Responsibility and Volunteering program, when a then-employee—Yumiko Yamada—suggested 2HJ as a partnering organization for the program to the company’s executives.
No sooner said than done—and ever since, Morgan Stanley has been a reliable and supportive pillar of 2HJ’s donor base, and has demonstrated on multiple occasions that beyond being a donor, they are a facilitator of opportunities, as the following examples illustrate:
Highlights of Morgan Stanley’s contributions
[1] Source: http://www.fitforcharity.org/home-en.htm
A memorable highlight in the relationship was on the occasion of waste disposal—of sorts. Morgan Stanley had just bought a Kyoto hotel, which was to be refurbished from its foundations, so the company had to get rid of the entire interior. While most things were destined for disposal, some items, including industrial sized kitchen gear, beds, and blankets, were still in too good a condition, and called to be put to a second use.
The beds and blankets have gone to welfare agencies served by 2HJ, which in turn have shared them with their registered clients. And the industrial-sized pots from the hotel’s kitchen have gained new popularity and are now indispensable items each time we get ready to serve the 500+ homeless people that week after week patiently line up for a warm meal at our Ueno Park soup kitchen.
Writer: Pamela Ravasio
Link to News story »RSS
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