Grandma’s Gift Box

Through “Grandma’s Gift Box” which is a part of the Place to Grow program, O.G.A. for Aid is supporting the activities of “Nukumori-kobo”, that produces traditional processed food of Minami-sanrikucho, and trough the donation that we raised, we are holding workshops and outdoor events for the kids in the town.

For more details, Please visit COMMUNITY GIFT BOX Website : www.placetogrow-ngo.org/gift

Inspire 3.11
-Tohoku Awareness Campaign-

To fulfill our mission of bringing new energy and connection to the survivors of Tohoku, we are launching the “Inspire 3.11” awareness campaign, with a goal of collecting 31,100 card and online messages between October 2015 and December 2016.

For more details, Please visit Inspire 3.11 Campaign Website : www.inspire311.org

INSPIRE 3.11 Campaign

VISION - A world where survivors are inspired and connected at all stages of the recovery process.

MISSION - To improve the lives of disaster survivors and bring awareness to the challenges and issues they face.

Campaign Objectives

• Draw Attention to the challenges survivors face in “Recovery” using digital storytelling and video to tell Survivors Stories.

• Generate a social media buzz through the pay-it-forward stratagem - tagging friends to participate in sending online messages of hope and inspiration.

Campaign Goals

• Register 1,000 volunteers
• Collect 10,000 hours of volunteer time commitment to apply towards campaign programs in 2015-2017
• Raise ¥10,000,000 to support 10 on-the-ground campaign programs in Tohoku and Nepal.

Tohoku Santa Soul Train

Santa Soul Train is one of the three major community events that O.G.A. for Aid implements in Tohoku. The 5th annual event took place Dec. 13-15, 2015 in 7 locations for 400 children throughout Tohoku.
The aim was to connect people from all over Japan with the children and communities of Tohoku to remind them that they are not forgotten and also give them the opportunity to connect with the children who are survivors of the Nepal earthquake (via Christmas cards).

Santa Soul Train 2015 Achievements

• 400+ Guests Attended
• 50+ Outside Volunteers Joined
• 50+ Local Volunteers Joined
• 971 Children Received a Card and a Gift
• 2,500,000+ Yen was Raised in Funding and Equivalent Donations
• Approximately 300 Hours of Volunteer Time was Undertaken
• With Approximately 100 Hours Working Alongside Survivors
• 400 Cards were Sent to Nepal
• Many More Cards and Gifts were delivered to:
  Marine Pal (13), Teragai in Kesennuma (56), Kamome in Ishinomaki (49), Iriya Elementary School (90), Shizugawa Elementary School 3rd Graders (45), Shizugawa Elementary School 1st & 2nd Graders (67), Koriyama in Fukushima (21), Minamisoma Temporary Housing (70), Niranohama (25)

For a more detailed look at the event (including pictures and a video), please click here.

Thank you for your support!

Place to Grow

For children this “Place” provides an emotionally safe learning environment. It also provides local role models for children by introducing them to the older generations skills in agriculture. For parents it provides a livelihood. For the community it provides a platform where the two generations connect and knowledge is passed on to the younger.

Infrastructure support

• Physical hub and office facilities for local agriculture businesses
• Provides workshop and event facilities

Community support

• Monitors MSR residents' needs and coordinates local events and activities
• Facilitates volunteer connections
• Offers art and agriculture classes and a series of generation connect events.

Livelihood support

• Offers direct support to local residents, such as housewives and high school students, for part-time work opportunities
• Coordinates interested parties and acts as a think tank for the creation of agriculture business.
• Provides facilities, people and resources to test and launch new agriculture businesses

O.G.A kids

After the disaster families are torn apart and spend the first few weeks searching for each other. Many are never reunited but the ones that do find each other are placed in crowded shelters with no privacy or space to grieve. The emotion stress is heightened and strained. This project can relieve them of some of the stress and panic that comes when a parent looks at his/her child and wonders “What now?”

While the world and governments focus on the necessary clean up of rubble and debris, this fund will allow mothers, fathers and grandparents to reconnect and begin the personal rebuilding that comes from enjoying moments together as a family. For example having a summer field trip, flowers bouquets for their children at graduation, special school events, summer sports camps, language lessons, computer lessons and even babysitting care.

Community support

• Management of two annual MSR events (Christmas and Spring) that focus on raising the morale of residents, and bringing them in touch with the national and international community
• The events and workshops are venues for broken families and loved ones to gather together.
• Volunteers travel from all over the world to see old friends and family in the devastated region
• Work with partners such as KIWL, Nishimachi International School, celebrities such as Hayami Yu and Stuart O for promotion, performance, funding and attendance

Green Farmers Miyagi

Green Farmers Miyagi is a recently established for-profit company that was previously a branch/project of O.G.A and played a big role in distributing donations and its own grown vegetables to people in need, especially those in temporary housing.

Now, the business is committed to creating a sustainable long-term future for the Minamisanriku community. It does this in several ways, such as by providing jobs with a decent wage to local people who need/want work, and through its attempts to revitalise and improve the local agricultural industry.

Infrastructure support

• Provides fields and equipment for farming
• Established secondary factory processing
• Developing channels and direct sales capabilities

Community support

• Offers resources and collaborates closely on community events and activities for both local residents and incoming visitors
• Creates opportunities for people of neighboring communities to unite around a common cause

Livelihood support

• Offers full-time and part-time employment to local residents
• Provides agricultural training programs that provide broader employment opportunities
• Provides facilities, people and resources to test and launch new agriculture businesses

Temahima

Temahima program serves international, public and private schools, international and national corporations and associations.
Temahima field trip - A program for schools and corporates to visit survivors as students of the recovery and engage in hands-on volunteer work.

Community support

• Develops trips that organize MSR visits by groups of Tokyo business employees and international school students (and Tohoku University trips) to participate in community events and activities
• Working with travel agency (Kinki Nippon Tours) to develop formal tours with themes such as adventure, team-building, history and community

Livelihood support

• Developing sustainable tour model that helps revitalize and grow the local tourism business

Internships

Our intern helps prepare students for integration with foreigners on personal, business and political levels through a series of English language lessons, seminars and casual cultural discussions.

Community support

• Offer visas, jobs and opportunities to international interns to live and work directly with residents to provide services like English and music training
  
• Translating menus of local restaurants into English and providing staff lessons to better communicate with and serve international visitors