Sunday, October 08, 2006
Distributing Warm Meals with Warm Hearts at Ueno Park on Saturdays
Over six months have passed since I started to help 2HJ with the Ueno Park distribution on Saturdays. I first joined the distribution with an American friend who organized a volunteer event for her Japanese-American club last fall.
2HJ’s Saturday distribution has various unique features. First, it requires some physical work. Since I spend all day sitting in front of the computer at work, it’s so nice to be able to move around.
The preparation usually starts at 10:30 at the warehouse, and volunteers are split into a few teams to prepare such items as bread, vegetables, and rice. Then, we cut bread, boil vegetables, and make some soups or risotto until noon. Once we arrive at Ueno Park at around 12:30, we serve food to around 450 people until the food runs out at around 14:00. After a small meeting among the volunteers, some of us come back to the warehouse to clean the large pots and sweep the grounds. We normally finish cleaning up at 16:00. Thus, we keep moving all day long!
Another unique feature of the distribution is the direct feedback from the recipient side. I hear the words “thank you” hundreds of times when I distribute food at the park, and it is so nice to be appreciated for what I do.
But the most unique feature is the variety of people who come and help with the distribution. Over 70% of the volunteers at Saturday distribution are foreigners. Some go to international schools, some work for foreign companies, and some work as English teachers in Japan. Many of the remaining Japanese volunteers have some international background, like myself, who lived in the U.S. for six or seven years and now work at a foreign company.
We also have some native Japanese volunteers consisting mainly of retired older men, or “ojisan.” They don’t speak English at all, but they communicate with others so well with their good sense of humor of “oyaji gags” (old men’s jokes). I am so happy that they now call me “Sayo-chan” in a friendly way.
In fact, this kind of warmth among the volunteers is the driving force at 2HJ. We don’t simply distribute warm meals to people in need, but we also provide them with our warm hearts. I hope more people with warm hearts – Japanese and non-Japanese alike – will come and help with the Saturday distributions to achieve our mission of “Food for All People.”
Writer: Sayoko Tanaka
Photo: Patricia Decker
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