Thanks to your support, Second Harvest Japan delivered about 560 tons of food to those in need such as orphanages and women’s shelters in 2009. But, in Japan, there are still many people in need of our help while a lot of safe and edible food are thrown away for various reasons. We want to deliver more food to those in need. In order to make this happen, we need your help. Thank you very much for your support!

Particularly in summer, since children don’t have school lunches, many single mothers worry about meals for their children. Your donation will deliver food to people like those single mothers and children. Please join our efforts to feed those in need! Thank you!

・Volunteer
・Make a donation
Now online donation is available!

If you like this story, you might also enjoy:

Office Manager Masahiro Otake’s U.S. Food Bank Travelogue Vol. 1

2HJ’s new video - Thank you very much for your support!

June 5, 2010 - Charles McJilton Interviewed on My Eyes Tokyo, Chuo FM

2HJ Executive Director Charles McJilton was interviewed on a radio program, My Eyes Tokyo, on May 29, 2010. The second session will be from 7 p.m. on June 5, 2010. Please tune in to listen to the interview! The interviews are in Japanese but you can read an English summary here.

2HJ is now on Twitter! Follow us in English or in Japanese.

If you like this story, you might also enjoy:
Office Manager Masahiro Otake’s U.S. Food Bank Travelogue Vol. 1

Food for Thought—Part 2: “Stamp Out Hunger”—The Largest Single-Day Food Drive in the U.S.

2HJ’s new video - Thank you very much for your support!

“I want to create a fun and free atmosphere for all volunteers”: 2HJ Volunteer Coordinator Sachiko Ashman

Q: How did you find out about 2HJ?

I somehow found out about foodbanking in the U.S., and while watching YouTube videos of actual activities in different places, I saw a spot video by 2HJ. Even though it wasn’t a particularly original video, it impacted me a great deal. After watching it, I immediately visited 2HJ’s home page. I thought, “There’s an organization that’s passionate about foodbanking even in Japan!” and read every bit of the website. After that, I would sometimes take a look at news about their activities, and gradually, the idea, “I want to join 2HJ’s activities as a volunteer,” became stronger and stronger. This was three years ago.

Q: Why did you get interested in 2HJ’s activities?

Of course I felt a sense of connection to many of their activities, but even before that, I really felt that 2HJ’s philosophy and activities were true. I could feel the passion of the people involved, the warmth of their spirit, and the strength of their energy as they moved in the direction they’re seeking. Their unshakable conviction was something that transcended distance and time. I wondered why I felt as if I had met kindred spirits even though I was in London at the time.

Q: What do you want to accomplish as a volunteer coordinator?

I want to work hard to preserve the fun atmosphere created by Charles, the staff and the volunteer coordinators before me so everyone (volunteers and staff) can enjoy the activities freely and easily. Besides that, my major goal is to create new activities that show gratitude to the community where 2HJ has its base and make the entire area healthy. My minor goal is to have a project that makes compost from the large amount of vegetable scraps that are produced by the Friday and Saturday activities every week.

Sachiko lived in England before becoming 2HJ’s volunteer coordinator this year. Her international outlook will serve 2HJ well. All volunteers, please continue to give her your warm support!

If you like this story, you might also enjoy:
Volunteer interview No. 3: Sanoko Uegaki

2HJ’s new video: “Thank you very much for your support!”

Voice from our clients - No.1: Asian People’s Friendship Society

Who Started Food Banks and How?

The third part in this series introduces how food banking started in the United States and later to spread to the world.

John van Hengel, founder of first food bank in the world (Photo courtesy of St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance)

The very first food bank in the world was started in 1967, in Arizona, by John van Hengel. When John learned that a local supermarket was throwing away large amounts of food every day, he talked to the store manager into donating the wasted food to a local soup kitchen that he was involved with. Soon, the amount of donated food grew and the soup kitchen had a surplus of food. Seeing this, John was inspired to create a system of collecting and saving food, much the same way a bank collects and saves money. This was the birth of the very first food bank in the world. This food bank, now operating as St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance, continues to distribute food to people with low-income in Arizona.

Ten years after John started the first food bank in the world, more and more organizations started food banking activities. John became a consultant on food banking to many of these organizations. As a nationwide network to serve these food banks across the nation, America’s Second Harvest was organized in 1976. Later renamed to Feeding America, its mission is “providing food to Americans living with hunger.”

John explaining the mission of America’s Second Harvest (Photo courtesy of St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance)

John then started consulting organizations in Canada and Europe about food banking, and established International Food Banking Services, Inc., in 1986. The firm changed its name to Global Foodbanking Network (GFN) in 2006.

GFN supports local food banks in 18 countries in locations including South America and Africa. Second Harvest Japan has been a member of GFN as a representative of Japan since 2007.¹

2HJ Executive Director Charles McJilton sitting with John at the America’s Second Harvest annual meeting in Hollywood in September 2003

John’s message (see the following paragraph) is written on the board (Photo courtesy of St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance)

John passed away in 2005, but the spirit of his message that “The poor we will always have among us, but why the hungry?” lives on here in Japan, with us at Second Harvest Japan.

We also welcome your comments and thoughts. Mail us at and follow us on Twitter for the latest news about food banking in Japan (@2HJ_en in English, @2ndharvestjapan in Japanese).

References
All quotation and data come from St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance’s website unless otherwise specified.
¹ Global Foodbanking Network’s website.

If you like this story, you might also enjoy:
Office Manager Masahiro Otake’s U.S. Food Bank Travelogue Vol. 1

Food for Thought—Part 2: “Stamp Out Hunger”—The Largest Single-Day Food Drive in the U.S.

2HJ’s new video - Thank you very much for your support!

For the fifth interview of our series of Volunteer to Volunteer Interviews, Jun Ota interviewed Ryoma Kobayashi who volunteers on Fridays for our soup-kitchen preparation.

Q: What motivated you to volunteer at 2HJ?

I thought about volunteering, because I felt guilty for throwing out food at my part-time job. At this job, we sometimes threw away as much as four big trash bags of food. After experiencing this a few times, I started feeling I should do something to reduce food waste. Wondering what I could do, I remembered 2HJ. I knew of 2HJ because I took a class at my university from Mr. McJilton, executive director of 2HJ.

Kobayashi is sauteeing carrots with his great smile.

Q: What do you exactly do when you volunteer at 2HJ?

Friday mornings I go with a 2HJ driver to pick up food from a food donor to help load the van. In the afternoon, I help chop vegetables for 2HJ’s soup kitchen activity. I enjoy it because I get to chat with other volunteers. I come to volunteer every Friday.

Q: What was your impression when you first volunteered?

This was my first experience volunteering. It’s more fun than I had expected. Also, since there are many volunteers from foreign countries, I can use this as a time to learn English. As an English major student, this is the perfect place for me to practice English. However, I have to admit that what we actually do is rather simple. We just chop veggies together, wash dishes, and that’s all for Fridays! But since we work very close to each other, we get to know each other well. It’s a lot of fun chatting with other volunteers and staff members. Everybody has a background and a different story to tell. It’s anything but boring. As a college student, if I were not volunteering at 2HJ, I don’t think I would have met so many people from such different backgrounds. It’s wonderful that I get to build relationships with people through working together.

Q: How did volunteering affect your life?

I realized that “there are benefits of being a volunteer.” It can be beneficial to you when you volunteer your time for free. For instance, you can meet different people through volunteer activities. You are more likely to meet people who share the same interests. That’s because nonprofits such as 2HJ are gatherings of people who have similar concerns. I think it’s close to participating in hobby clubs. Volunteering is a great opportunity to belong to something like a college club. This is what I realized since I started volunteered at 2HJ.

“Hope this tastes good”

Q: As a volunteer, what do you think are some of the challenges that 2HJ faces?

There must be organizational challenges that are not visible from a volunteer’s perspective. Regarding volunteer activities, I think there are several challenges 2HJ faces. But those challenges might be closely linked to what is good about 2HJ.

For example, many people point out that the equipments and facility are not sufficient for soup kitchen preparations. But since we don’t have enough equipment, we need more people. I mean, when you see it differently, this lets more people participate in this activity and work together. We also cook outside facing pedestrians, which is literally an open environment for talking. It gives us an opportunity to mingle with each other. If we had a convenient sink where one person could get the work done, we would need less volunteers. Work would get more efficient, but it would be a pity to lose the charm of working with other volunteers. So, I don’t think making things more convenient always brings better outcomes. With that said, I do wish we had hot water! Washing dishes with cold water in the winter is very hard.

Q: How do you see the future of foodbanking?

I hope there will be more food banks in Japan. I think the demand is certainly there. So, I believe the number of food banks will increase in the future. With more cooperating relationships between food banks, they can share knowledge, which would increase trust from corporations. I imagine 2HJ staff are already thinking about how to build this cooperation. Also, I think it’s important to expand the scale of 2HJ. I really hope for 2HJ to continue to thrive.

Interviewer’s Note

I often spend time with Kobayashi-san when picking up food from donor companies and delivering them to 2HJ’s member agencies. I am very impressed how this college student with a very busy schedule, continuously manages to find time to be a very active volunteer. He is very open and cheerful, and since he is good at English, he creates a good atmosphere for Japanese and non-Japanese volunteers alike.

He is in his senior year as a collage student since this April, and is currently busy with schoolwork as well as his search for his job after graduation. (Are you an HR manager? I recommend Kobayashi-san to your company!) I expect that he will bring out his best in various fields in his future.

If you like this story, you might also enjoy:

Volunteer interview No.3: Kanoko Uegaki

2HJ’s new video - Thank you very much for your support!

Second Harvest Japan (2HJ) supports a wide variety of nonprofit organizations and individuals as our clients. We would like to bring their voice to you so that you know how your support to 2HJ make difference in our clients’ lives. This time, we introduce Asian People’s Friendship Society (APFS) to you. APFS supports foreign residents in Tokyo.

Food aid for foreign families

Global economy crisis after “Lehman shock” has damaged the financial condition of undocumented foreign residents who are working for their legal status of residence. Among them, several fathers of the families have been detained in the Tokyo immigration office since August 2009, which made the condition even more difficult. Families have lost income.

In order not to starve them, APFS started food aid project since end of October, 2009, with support from “Second harvest Japan”. “Second harvest Japan” is the organization that collects surplus food from the companies and distributes them to the person in need.

“Instead of our Japanese staff deciding how we give food to foreign recipients, our foreign recipients took an initiative and sorted food among themselves” (quoted from APFS’s blog)

Those families whose fathers had been detained in the immigration office received package of the rice and vegetables twice in a month. Children of the families were able to obtain enough nutrition.

We also receive the food packages at the APFS office twice a month and distribute them to the foreign families on the occasion such as share meeting. The preparation of distribution of the food is helped not only by APFS Japanese staff but by everyone including foreign members as shown in the picture.

In 2010, among families who had been supported by this food aid, some family obtained special permission.

The voice from Ms. A who had been supported by food support project, and obtained special permission:

“We are so happy to see rice and vegetable in the package. The support is really helpful by finding new job. Please continue this support for people who still do not get the special permission for residence.”

Ms. A got a job and he does not need food aid any more.

Foreign families strongly wish to be self-supported. However it is not possible to do so in hunger. For now, APFS continues to support them so that they can solve their financial condition as well as their visa problem.

Comment from APFS’s staff member:

“Every month, (Second Harvest Japan) sends seven packages to our clients and delivers food to our office twice. Many of our clients don’t even know if they will have something to eat for the next day. We are very grateful to the lifeline provided by Second Harvest Japan.”

What did you think about it? Your generous support delivers food to those in need through our member organizations and groups. We would like to thank you sincerely on behalf of our clients. If you are interested in supporting 2HJ, please click the links below. Thank you very much for your continued support!

・Volunteer
・Make a donation
Now online donation is available!

We also welcome your comments and thoughts. Mail us at info@2hj.org and follow us on Twitter for the latest news about food banking in Japan (@2HJ_en in English, @2ndharvestjapan in Japanese).

If you like this story, you might also enjoy:
2HJ’s new video - Thank you very much for your support!

Volunteer interview No.3: Kanoko Uegaki

Food for Thought—Part 2: “Stamp Out Hunger”—The Largest Single-Day Food Drive in the U.S.

A postcard sent out to families across the United States as a reminder of the nationwide food drive. The woman pictured is a United States Postal Service mail carrier. (From the Stamp Out Hunger website)

Stamp Out Hunger, a nationwide food drive in the U.S., took place Saturday, May 8. It is the largest single-day food drive in the country and is organized through a collaborative effort of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and the United States Postal Service (USPS). Hence, the play on words, to literally “stamp” out hunger in America. On May 8th each year across all 50 states, people can leave non-perishable food (canned foods, juice, rice, cereal, etc.) outside their homes for letter carriers to pick up on their regular mail delivery route. The donated food are gathered at the post office and delivered to local food banks, food pantries and other hunger relief organizations.

This year marked the 18th year of this food drive. The goal for 2010 was to surpass last year’s record of 73.4 million pounds (approximately 33,000 tons) of food collected. It is also estimated that this year, the total amount of food collected by Stamp Out Hunger in the last 18 years will reach over one billion pounds (approximately 450,000 tons).

Currently in the United States, where an estimated 49 million people live without food security, the dependency for food banks and food pantries of low income families and individuals is rising. NALC President Fredric Rolando said that “… food banks, pantries and shelters need our help more than ever this year. As families [of low income] count on them for support, they’re counting on us, and we will not back off on our commitment.”

To promote the food drive, more than 125 million postcards (pictured above) was mailed to families all over the nation.

The postcard is a very interesting idea, and the power and determination to make this food drive happen all across the country is inspiring. The dedication and creative problem-solving in the U.S. to address poverty never ceases to amaze, and is something that Second Harvest Japan can learn greatly from.

We also welcome your comments and thoughts. Mail us at and follow us on Twitter for the latest news about food banking in Japan (@2HJ_en in English, @2ndharvestjapan in Japanese).

References
All quotes and data in this article come from this Feeding America website.

If you like this story, you might also enjoy:

Food for Thought—A Look at Food Banks in the U.S.A.  Part 1: From Farm to Family

Office Manager Masahiro Otake’s U.S. Food Bank Travelogue Vol. 1

What is a food drive and how can you be a part of one?

Ms. Etsuko Ohara, author of The Challenge of Food Banking

Mr. Minoru Yano of Ueda Oils and Fats Mfg. and Mr. Paul Mori of Heinz Japan proposed a toast at the beginning of the event.

Taiko performance

2HJ Executive Director Charles McJilton said thank-you to the participants.

The party was an opportunity of interactions among people involved in foodbanking in various ways, and it fostered a bond between donors and recipients. A person from a food donor company said, “Conversations with recipient organizations and volunteers have assured me that my company’s donations to 2HJ are utilized effectively. I’m very delighted.” The party was a big success as it reflected the essence of foodbanking: a bond of friendship across various people. It created a landmark point of departure for the next decade.

2HJ Office Manager Masahiro Otake

2HJ’s staff members

2HJ presented anniversary T-shirts to volunteer leaders

The charity concert on April 24 at St. Andrew’s Cathedral Church in Tokyo, the other event to celebrate the 10th anniversary, was also a big success with more than 70 people attending. We at 2HJ would like to extend our gratitude to all the participants both at the party and at the concert. For those who could not attend, our gratitude goes to you too. We hope for the continued support from all of you in the future.

The poverty rate of single-parent households in Japan: 54.3% (Japanese)

- English explanation by Japan Times

(Japan’s lowest poverty rate of single-parent households among OECD member countries: 54.3％ (Japanese). The article by Japan Older Person’s Co-operative Union
)

The relative poverty rate of Japan: 15.7％ (Japanese)

The rate of non-regular workers increased from 19% to above 30% during the period of 1996 and 2006. On average, part-time workers gain only 40% of payments for full-time workers per hour.







Chart about comparisons between before and after taxes and transfers: the child poverty rate of Japan increases to 14% (in 2000) after redistribution of tax money unlike the OECD average. After the redistribution, Japan’s rate gets higher than the OECD average.



Also, the survey says that more than half of working single-parent households are in poverty (in 2000). The average rate of working single-parent households among OECD member countries is about 20%.

The Japan Federation of Democratic Medical Institutions reports the poverty of 24,000 elderly people in Japan (Japanese).

The report says that around 40% of the elderly live with incomes less than \100,000 per month; around 30% say that they don’t go out because it would cost money.

If you like this story, you might also enjoy:

2HJ’s new video: “Thank you very much for your support!”

Voice from our clients - No.1: Asian People’s Friendship Society

Thank you all for participating in National Azabu’s Food Festa 2010! 2HJ had a wonderful time at Food Festa 2010. We had many entrants for the raffle prize and the winning number was

. Please contact us at info@2hj.org by May 7th to claim your prize of ¥25,000 in gift coupons.

Here are a couple of photos of the event.

Thank you Dale Toriumi of National Azabu for having us at the event!

We greatly appreciate National Azabu’s support.

Our sponsors:

If you like this story, you might also enjoy:

Food for Thought—A Look at Food Banks in the U.S. Part 1: From Farm to Family

2HJ’s new video - Thank you very much for your support!