Contents for 2008 Issue No. 2 include:

-Chilled deliveries with new vehicle
-Growing with new warehouse space
-Daikon gleaning
-Global FoodBanking Network visit
-Volunteer story: Friday cooking
-2HJ news bites

Click to view 2008 Issue No. 2 [PDF: 2,665 KB]

Sixteen food bankers from ten different countries representing a range of different stages on the development spectrum participated in the training. Some food banks had been around for many years delivering several tons of food each day, while others were just beginning to develop a systematic means of picking up and delivering food. South Africa, to which GFN made a significant commitment by assigning two full time staff to the country, was making the transition from independent food relief operations to a national network of food banks. That country’s story was by far the most fascinating because representatives from the various food relief operations and the government were present. Each party had its own take on what was actually happening, the struggles being faced, and the very real challenge of balancing the needs and interests of the various stakeholders. It will be interesting to see how successful GFN will be in helping this transition happen.

As the GFN representative member for Asia, 2HJ played a role in getting a seat for the representative from the Philippines. Food banking there is in its early planning stages and it was very helpful for the country’s representative to meet representatives from countries with similar socio-economic challenges to learn how they have been able to develop food banking. The training visit was also an opportunity for 2HJ to continue to network and make contact with donor companies such as Kellogg and Procter & Gamble, which are GFN supporters. Procter & Gamble wants to start making donations in Asia and has looked to 2HJ to provide the leadership in the region.

H-E-B, the largest supermarket chain in Texas with stores also in Mexico, hosted the GFN training at its headquarters in 2007 and 2008. Walking around the grounds of the headquarters and talking with the employees imparts a sense of what a truly progressive company can look like. While it is committed to its bottom line, H-E-B is also committed to food banking and has put in place innovative programs to reach those in need, from purchasing a mobile kitchen (see photo) valued at over $1 million and capable of producing 25,000 meals an hour, to working closely with the company’s reclamation center to make sure that tons of food donations are sent to food banks in Texas and Mexico each day. On top of this, the company has fundraising programs that allow customers to directly give money to food banks.

When H-E-B contributes relief supplies to communities hit by crises or national disasters, this mobile kitchen provides on-site food preparation.

Training and networking opportunities like this are important for 2HJ. They help us understand that our struggles are shared by other food banks and that we can offer assistance to other food banks as they start operations in their own country.

The new vehicle has made it possible for us to accept donations of frozen and refrigerated food, from frozen vegetables and beef to ice cream and other cool snacks. Frozen food lasts a long time, making it very valuable, but in order to deliver it, one must pass the strict standards of frozen food companies. The vehicle donated by Nu Skin Japan passes these standards easily. We have already successfully accepted donations from a range of frozen food makers without any difficulties.

In March, Executive Director Charles McJilton and new staff member Masahiro Otake drove from Tokyo to Miyazaki, over 1,000 kilometers, dropping in to make deliveries at facilities in Osaka, Kobe, and other places along the way. Their final destination and inspiration for the trip was a Miyazaki orphanage that had recently rebuilt one of its buildings. Charles and Otake arrived in time to deliver some celebratory ice-cream on the day of the building’s rakusei-shiki (completion ceremony). The refrigerated van kept the ice cream and other items safe all the way, as the children were delighted to confirm.

Offers to donate frozen food to 2HJ are still coming thick and fast, and thanks to everyone’s support we are able to take up these generous offers in an efficient and organized manner. We look forward to more “warm-hearted deliveries of well-chilled food.”

Writer: Yusuke Wada

What sounds like a streamlined slaughtering ritual, in reality is the daikon (i.e., Japanese white radish) harvesting routine of the 20 or so volunteers that answered 2HJ’s call to Okabe on Sunday February 24. They collected over 2 metric tons of daikon (from about 10 tons available on the field), all of which had been delivered to 2HJ’s recipients by February 27, only three days after the volunteers harvested them!

The following Sunday, March 2, a team of children (and their caretakers), aged from elementary to high school, took their turn and pitched in to harvest over 1.5 additional tons of daikon from the field. Coming from several of the homes to which 2HJ provides food, the children enjoyed the rare opportunity of harvesting their own food and eating it fresh from the field. The staff from the various participating children’s homes brought back a bounty of daikon to supplement meals at their agencies.

For 2HJ, it was the first time in its history that the organization literally lived up to its name by harvesting a field of donated vegetables. Due to this year’s early frosts, the usual daikon harvest period was cut short, leaving entire fields of the vegetable to the plough. Fortunately, one field of high-quality, mouth-watering daikon remained for 2HJ to gather.

Looking back, 2HJ’s Executive Director Charles McJilton stated: “I always wanted to bring such an event to life.” But the idea only gained momentum when 2HJ’s staff member Haijima-san revived the connection he had made with Mr. Karasawa (the main driver of this event on the Okabe community’s side) while working for a farmer in Miyazaki, Kyushu, before joining 2HJ. When the two met again after Haijima-san’s return to Tokyo, conversations about the details of vegetable cultivation eventually lead to reflections on if and how there might be opportunities for farming communities to contribute in their own way to 2HJ’s activities.

Farmers invest a tremendous amount of time and effort in growing crops and vegetables, “much like parents raising and educating their kids,” as Mr. Karasawa explains. It gives them a rather nauseous feeling watching the results of their efforts go to waste, be it because there are not enough hands available for harvesting all of it, or due to some follies of the change in season. Consequently, joining forces with 2HJ seemed like an optimal way to kill two birds with one stone: Not only did some of the yet unharvested daikon get harvested, but also there were people happily looking forward to such a highly valued addition to their menu.

Tired, cold, excited, covered from head to toe in soil blown upon us by the marrow-chilling wind and looking forward to dropping by the nearby onsen (i.e., local hot spring) before returning to Tokyo, all volunteers agreed that working in the fields and harvesting daikon with our own hands had taken the stress of city-life, at least temporarily, away from us. And, if only for a few hours, we had made the somewhat surprising discovery that country life was not all about sweet strawberries and gorgeous green meadows. The life of a farmer can be tough—and the strong winds, blinding us at times, forcing us to swallow more than the odd grain of soil and sand, served as a good example of how tough that life can be.

As the first time ran so smoothly and was a positive, educational and last but not least fun experience for all participants, 2HJ hopes to continue this newly set up collaboration with the Okabe agricultural community, and maybe even set up links to other communities in the future.

And, as 2HJ is now looking into converting this originally one-off event into a regular, maybe twice-a-year activity, I am looking forward to another of those rare opportunities where I get to work with my hands. Maybe I will be allowed once more the occasional glimpse to the panorama of the snow-covered Northern Alps rising at the horizon. No doubt at the end of another such day I will again fall into my bed with a rare but soothing, satisfactory feeling of having accomplished a truly productive day.

Writer/Photographer: Pamela Ravasio

This is the meal we hand out every Saturday at Ueno Park through the 2HJ Saturday Soup Kitchen—give or take a few minor variations depending on what’s on hand week to week. Sounds pretty appetizing, doesn’t it?

We serve over 400 hot meals every Saturday, which adds up to a lot of cooking. Since it all has to be ready by lunchtime on Saturday, we have to start our preparations on the day before that. That’s where the “Friday volunteer gang” comes in.

Every Friday morning at nine o’clock, volunteers begin to gather outside the 2HJ office. Two long tables and several large gas cookers are set up on the sidewalk, the volunteers grab knives and cutting boards, and the cookout begins. First, they cut the fresh vegetables for salads and soup.

Next, they light up the gas cookers, boil some water, and throw in the frozen mixed vegetables and komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach), along with any meats, eggs and potatoes that we might have that day.

All the cooking is done outdoors. It can get chilly in the winter months, but the mood is always relaxed and cheerful. When passers-by ask what we are doing and what all the vegetables are for, that gives us a chance to tell them a little about 2HJ and the soup kitchen.

All sorts of people come and volunteer their time: housewives, university students, parents with their kids, foreigners of all kinds, and business people on leave or between jobs. Their reasons for volunteering and how often they can come varies as widely as age and religious beliefs, but at the long tables everyone works as one. Each individual task is simple which means that we can all enjoy each other’s conversation and company without slowing the prep work.

“Some people are born on this Earth with a purpose from up above—people like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Jakucho Setouchi. If this is true, then Charles (2HJ Executive Director) might have a destiny like that too. That thought was what inspired me to start volunteering at 2HJ,” explains Elsa Mission, who has been volunteering her time and preparing food every Friday for almost a year. “Some countries on Earth have an abundance of food, and others are in desperate need. I believe that sharing love with other people is what makes life meaningful.”

Almost all of the food used in the Hot Meal Program is received as donations. 2HJ only purchases minimal condiments and seasonings.

When food that was destined for disposal is donated to 2HJ instead, most of the food is distributed as-is to agencies like orphanages, women’s shelters, and elderly homes, who provide it to those in need. Elsa and the other Friday cookout volunteers also prepare a portion of the donated food for the Saturday Soup Kitchen, where it becomes part of a meal served directly to people in need of nutrition and sustenance.

Stepping out of a society where meals go to waste and into another in which unwanted food is redistributed to those in need. When companies and individuals take the time to reexamine what it means to “be a member of society,” exciting new things are possible. Won’t you join us, and help us make them happen?

Writer/Photographer: Yukari Yoshida

We would like to express our gratitude to NuSkin Japan for their support, thanks to which this next chapter in 2HJ’s history has become a reality.

Contents for 2008 Issue No. 1 include:

-What is a food drive?
-School food drives
-Welcome, Daniel!
-Farewell and thanks, Michelle!
-Charity concert review
-2HJ news bites

Click to view Harvest News 2008 No. 1 [PDF: 1,184 KB]

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

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

Date: January 13
Time: 11:00 pm – 11:30 pm
Channel: 10 (TV Asahi)