After discussing what Nadia could do for the survivors of the Kumamoto earthquake on April 14, we came up with our latest program called “Ishinomaki meets Kumamoto” – to deliver products purchased from Ishinomaki food product companies, which experienced the great earthquake five years ago, to an area in Kumamoto which was devastated by this recent disaster. Nadia contacted a company it has had a long-standing relationship with which very eagerly jumped on board and even arranged additional suppliers to join in.
Meanwhile, we received contact from a group called Nishihara Village Tanpopo House in Kumamoto, asking for food and other provisions. Nishihara Village is located close to Aso and was one of the most severely damaged municipalities along with Mashiki Town. This organization’s main mission is the operation of a facility for people with disabilities, but after the earthquake it began providing hot meals and delivering relief supplies. Nishihara Village Tanpopo House was recently featured on a n NHK program called Baribara aired May 29, in an episode titled “90 days from the Kumamoto earthquake – rebuilding Nishihara Village and the workshops”. (Japanese only: http://www6.nhk.or.jp/baribara/lineup/single.html?i=128)
Fortunately, Suenaga-san from Miyagi was on his way to volunteer in Kumamoto and delivered the relief supplies by car for us – travelling the great distance of 1600km! We are very happy that we were able to deliver Nadia’s support to Kumamoto. A big thank you to everyone that helped out in the form of donations and delivery! We are praying for the speedy recovery of Kumamoto.
