Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Harvest News: 2007 Autumn Issue
Harvest News, Second Harvest Japan’s newsletter, contains stories and information related to 2HJ and food banking in Japan. Download this color version to share with friends, family, and coworkers!
Contents for the 2007 autumn issue include:
-Recipient profile: Canaan Christ Church
-New staff Haijima-san
-Photo essay: Saturday soup kitchen
-Japan’s hidden poor
-2HJ news bites
Click to view Harvest News 2007 Autumn [PDF: 1,306 KB]
Link to News story »Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Recipient profile: Canaan Christ Church
“Delicious” church offers nourishment for body, soul
Lined with cheap hostels and known for attracting day laborers, Kotobuki area is located in Yokohama’s Naka Ward. This neighborhood is populated by welfare recipients—many of them disabled people and seniors—as well as numerous homeless people. It is also home to Canaan Christ Church. The church consists of four connected one-room apartments within a building.
The church’s goal is to be a “happy, fun, delicious church,” according to Pastor Satoshi Sato. A meal of curry and rice for all attendees follows Sunday services; boxed lunches or other meals are offered after roadside services on Saturday mornings and Thursday afternoons; snacks always accompany early morning and evening services.
“Without the food we receive from Second Harvest Japan (2HJ), we couldn’t do this kind of activity. I’m filled with gratitude at the fact that they always come from far away to deliver the food to us,” says Pastor Sato’s wife, Pastor Yeonhee Seo. 2HJ delivers bread, fresh vegetables, and canned goods to the church twice a month, while one of 2HJ’s donors, Nichirei, visits the church every week with a shipment of frozen foods. Since most people in the neighborhood can’t spare money to tithe, being able to receive food for free really helps the church. “On days when we’re expecting a delivery, we all look forward to seeing what will arrive that day,” says Pastor Seo.
Pastor Seo and Korean congregation members living in Japan originally established the church to preach to people living in this area. Just as the sign at the church entrance reads, today the church welcomes “anyone seeking a purpose, anyone who is confused, anyone tired from working, anyone who has been hurt, anyone at all.” People who have lost their job, money, and home, as well as people who spent most of their lives in prison, come here.
“Most people first come here more interested in one meal than one hundred sermons. Along the way, though, I’ve seen countless brothers and sisters have their spirits healed and be redeemed,” says Pastor Sato. In some cases, people go from living on the streets to helping at the church, and eventually even taking up jobs because they “want to donate money.”
Two years ago the church took in a couple who had been living in the underground walkways of Yokohama in a makeshift cardboard house. The woman was pregnant, and the situation had been dangerous for both her and her unborn child, but in July of last year she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. The baby, named Kanako after Canaan Church, is being watched over by many people and is thriving. Pastor Seo calls her the “treasure of the church.” Kanako-chan and her parents still live at the church, and her previously homeless father has become a sub-official at the city’s sanitation department.
From this fall, Canaan Church will serve as a 2HJ pantry. As such, it will function as the community “food contact point”: anyone who lacks food security or needs emergency groceries can visit the pantry to receive a parcel of food (non-perishable items like canned goods and dry noodles), which the pantry will receive from 2HJ and make available to anyone in need in the community. 2HJ is working to establish these food contact points in various locations throughout Japan.
“To help those who are troubled, both spiritually and materially, is our role as a church. We’re happy to serve as a connection between our community and 2HJ,” says Pastor Sato.
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By Etsuko Ohara
Photo: Yusuke Wada
Friday, September 28, 2007
2HJ t-shirts finally available!
Be the first in your neighborhood to wear a stylish 2HJ t-shirt!
The front of the shirt bears 2HJ’s logo, the “rice man.” The back shows our website address and tells the world what we stand for: Food for all people.
Price: 2,000 yen
Sizes: S, M, L
Color: White
Stop by and pick one up at our office, or send an e-mail to info@2hj.org to order! While you’re at it, why not add a neat 2HJ magnet to your order?
(Be sure to specify size, quantity, and shipping address.)
Link to News story »Monday, September 24, 2007
Reaching out to Japan’s hidden poor
I recently read a book* about the situation of Japan’s working poor. It contained the stories of a young person living in an Internet cafe and unable to improve his situation no matter how he tries, a single mother with several part-time jobs raising two children and getting only four hours of sleep a day, and a married couple over eighty years old but still unable to receive their pension, forced to collect cans instead. The book was based on a television program, which I imagine many people saw.
We at Second Harvest Japan have made it our mission to provide food to those living in financial poverty. Most people interpret this as “supporting the homeless.” This is not necessarily incorrect, but harsh financial conditions are a reality for many who are not homeless as well, and supporting those people makes up the majority of our operations. In fact, we hope to extend the reach of our support to such people even further.
Government reports place the number of homeless people at approximately 25,000 (Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare survey). This figure alone would be impossible to ignore. Consider, however, that roughly 440,000 seniors are said to be unable to receive their pension (Social Insurance Agency survey, 2004). There are also 1,230,000 households headed by single mothers, more than 80% of whom hold jobs, but the average yearly income of which is 2,250,000 yen. (Some single mothers make little more than 1,000,000 yen annually, despite holding two part-time jobs.) Homeless people may still live in the most obviously unforgiving conditions, but the absolute majority of Japan’s poor are far less visible—even “hidden.” Hearing the voices of those suffering outside the public eye and finding ways to connect them with support networks are the challenges we now face.
From this November until the end of the year, Second Harvest Japan will be working in partnership with Curves Japan to hold a nationwide food drive. The direct target recipients of the project will be this hidden majority of Japan’s poor. It is my hope that we will be able to use this project as an opportunity to begin creating a nationwide network of local facilities from which those without food security can easily obtain the food they need.
Writer: Yusuke Wada, 2HJ Resource Coordinator
*NHK Special “Working Poor” Program Crew (2007) Working Poor: The Sickness Undermining Japan, Tokyo: Poplar Publishing Co.
Link to News story »Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Harvest News: 2007 Summer Issue
Harvest News, Second Harvest Japan’s newsletter, contains stories and information related to 2HJ and food banking in Japan. Download this color version to share with friends, family, and coworkers!
Contents for the 2007 summer issue include:
-Delivering food to women and children
-Coordinator Jason Kueh
-Going to bed fed
-Global FoodBanking Network
-Morgan Stanley and 2HJ
-Food banker for a day
-2HJ news bites
Click to view Harvest News 2007 Summer [PDF: 601 KB]
Link to News story »RSS
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