Friday, December 22, 2006
Drivers Wanted: Apply Within
Life has taught me that everything happens for a reason, and some things pop up at the moment we least expect it.
I was visiting Tokyo Union Church not long after the New Year’s holiday of 2006 when Charles McJilton and I happened to brush shoulders during the fellowship held in the basement following the service. I had just resigned my full-time job after growing weary of working for a very traditional Japanese company. I’d just signed a marriage license a few months before, and faced the stress of planning a wedding ceremony and re-thinking my future. I’d also just begun the process of applying for a scholarship that would allow me to take my lovely new wife abroad and continue my education. Yeah, it certainly was not a stretch of the truth to say that I was going through a transitional phase (chuckle). Everything was “up in the air” for me. The only constant was that I felt a need to be a part of something, to have purpose; I had a truly sincere desire to turn over a new leaf in my life, making the most of the ensuing months, which I calculated to be possibly the end of a wonderful and rewarding 10+ years in Japan. It was time to give something back. I can say that with ease because in retrospect, our meeting was not coincidence, it was providence.
Charles and I sat down and had our first meeting in a Chinese restaurant just down the street from 2HJ’s warehouse and office, which are located between Akihabara and Asakusabashi stations. There was something about the genuineness and sincerity of his character. I suddenly found myself saying, “I want to volunteer as a driver for as long as I can.” I’m so glad I did.
Second Harvest Japan was and is continually growing and making a name for itself as a non-profit organization food bank in Japan. Now I’m a part of it.
In the coming weeks and months, I gave one day per week of my time on average to ride the subway in the morning to the warehouse, where I’d drive of 2HJ’s vehicles to one of the frozen food giant Nichirei’s warehouses in Funabashi City and pick up anywhere from a few hundred kilos to a ton or so of frozen vegetables, in frost-covered cardboard boxes of varying size and shape. Then, on to Costco in Makuhari where literally crates of bread, fruits, vegetables, etc. were waiting for me. I have joked with another volunteer that sometimes I felt like I was playing a game of Tetris, because the donations are often so generous that it was challenging to fit everything inside the van. After the food was packed up, it was taken back to the warehouse to be divided up and re-distributed to the refugees, the homeless, shelters, and orphanages that 2HJ provides with much needed food. From the first day onward, it never felt like I was putting in time as a volunteer at all. As a driver and now occasional weekend volunteer, I’ve got to say that there’s something captivating about 2HJ and the purpose we serve. The atmosphere is fun and family-like. Every day is a little bit different from the next, and nothing is ever boring. If you have a little bit of free time, a valid driver’s license, and the courage to selflessly put the needs of others before your own, I challenge you to come on board and be a part of something great.
Writer: David Adams
Photo: Carin Smolinski
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Financial Assistance from Nu Skin Japan helps 2HJ Expand Programs
Download full press release here. Summary follows.
Tokyo, 20 December 2006 – Second Harvest Japan, a unique non-profit corporation operating a food bank system, has announced that it has received a grant of 18 million yen (monthly 1.5 million yen) from Nu Skin Japan’s “Force for Good Fund”. With this grant, Second Harvest Japan will be able to further energize and expand its food assistance programs to help provide food to the needy throughout Japan.
Charles McJilton, Executive Director of Second Harvest Japan, commented: “We are profoundly grateful for the understanding and continued assistance of Nu Skin Japan. We are painfully aware of the reality that a vast amount of perfectly good food is thrown away when there are many living amongst us who are in need. Second Harvest Japan will fully utilize the grant and continue working to reinforce the infrastructure and enhance its food assistance program in order to better serve those in need.”
Media Inquiries:
Gavin Anderson & Company
Tel. 03-5404-0640
John Short, Yianoula Morris
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Heinz Japan: Three years and counting food donor to Second Harvest Japan
It was the summer of 2003. On his way home, Paul Mori, a director of Heinz Japan Ltd., saw the words “Food Bank” on a van parked on the side of the road. An Internet search at home led him to the web site for Food Bank Japan (Second Harvest Japan’s name until late 2004), through which he would later contact Executive Director Charles McJilton.
“In my country, America, it’s the norm for big food companies to cooperate with food banks. I had been wondering why such activities didn’t exist in Japan, and I just happened to see the van,” explains Paul. He quickly brought the matter up with management and Heinz Japan decided to start donating excess inventory.
Although the company is best known for its familiar bottles of ketchup and specialty cooking products like its demi-glace sauce, the monthly average of 350 kg of food products Heinz Japan has been donating to Second Harvest Japan includes a wide variety of soups and soup bases, curry, and even frozen products.
“As an example of our situation, we need to provide products to our clients with a certain number of days remaining before expiration, so we have to dispose of items that are still perfectly edible, but are not saleable. Making food with the goal that people will enjoy it only to have that food thrown away is the most painful thing for someone working in a food company,” says Heinz Japan Chairman, President, and CEO Sergio Sousa. The food that used to go to waste now helps people who need it. On top of that, because the company saves on the cost of storage and disposal, “Everyone ends up happy.”
Sousa, who spent a long time working in several countries in Africa, feels deep concern for the problems of food security. Recently, he volunteered with Second Harvest Japan, helping to deliver vegetables, juice, and other items to a children’s care facility. For the future, Sousa would like to set up a program through which all Heinz Japan employees could volunteer once a month.
Heinz Japan Chairman, President, and CEO Sergio Sousa volunteers with 2HJ Resource Coordinator, Yusuke Wada
“In Portugal, where I come from, food banking is very active, as in America. The tax system and the corporate system support the volunteer organizations; the result is two meals per day on the tables of 220,000 people—365 days a year,” says Sousa. “In this, Portugal far exceeds Japan. While Japan rushes to extend a helping hand when a disaster happens overseas, aren’t the problems of the needy here within the country going unnoticed?”
From a happenstance encounter with a parked Second Harvest Japan vehicle to a firm relationship based upon commitment with action, Heinz Japan has demonstrated that food need not go to waste and that you, the individual, and you the company can make all the difference and thereby make this a better world.
Writer: Etsuko Ohara
Link to News story »
Monday, November 13, 2006
Show your support with a 2HJ magnet!
Stick it on your car, your fridge at work or home, or anything else made of metal! These ribbon-shaped magnets communicate our shared mission of “Food for All People.”
Available through 2HJ for 1000 yen (small magnet) or 1500 yen (large magnet). You can also pick them up at outlets including Sony Plaza and Autobacs!
Link to News story »Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Watch Online: OurPlanet TV Interviews 2HJ Resource Coordinator Yusuke Wada
OurPlanet TV’s Rika Kobayashi interviewed Yusuke Wada today about hunger and food banking in Japan. The basic function of a food bank – to take in food from donors and redistribute it to those in need – is still not widely known in this country.
Some facts mentioned in the 23-minute interview may surprise viewers: 650 thousand people lack food security in Japan and 19.5 million are living below the poverty line. This need is coupled with a system that makes donating food difficult even for companies that want to give; they are taxed when they donate an amount of food that exceeds the government’s current cutoff line.
Watch the interview online (in Japanese only)! It will be the featured item on OurPlanet TV’s web site for two weeks.
Link to News story »RSS
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