Well, this was a pain in the ass. What should’ve been an easy and straightforward news piece about student/campus charity initiatives for Japan turned into a massive hassle because apparently very few people yet care enough to mobilize their humanitarian efforts.
Oh sure, any other natural disaster can afflict any other country, and U of T students will shout their support from the rooftops. Japan? All I could find at first was some minor event hosted by the JCSA (Japan-Canada Student Association) with nobody involved willing to respond to my calls and emails. Hell, the only reason I even decided to take this article was because a media relations officer at www.NoteSolution.com guilted me into it after hounding me on Google Talk, and even then all I could be bothered to do was suffix a trite blurb about what they’re doing at the very end.
Up until 4PM on Wednesday, I had absolutely nothing for this article. Don’t mistake me, it’s a terribly easy thing to find things to say about Japan these days (“Japan is a big boy country that can take care of itself – it doesn’t need our pity,” or “the Japanese people are proof of concept that xenophobia is better than diversity,” or “I wonder how many times faster Japan will recover from the earthquake than New Orleans after Katrina?”). But the point of this article is to tie it to the U of T community, not reiterate for the umpteenth billionth time the sensationalist gibberish of catastrophe sprouted by every other news outlet on the planet.
Fortunately, one of my contacts at U of T Media Relations stumbled upon news that OISE had something fairly substantial in the works. In fact what they had planned was, at that point, so new that the newspaper would end up being the first to announce it. I called the event coordinator – the supremely helpful David Goldberg – at 4:15, and an hour later I had tonnes of material to work with. Once I was able to sit down and begin work on this after class at about 9:00, everything seemed to take care of itself.
I suppose it just goes to show that things tend to work themselves out no matter how dire the situation, which coincidentally is exactly what I’m hoping for with Intermediate Greek II… Wait, that’s a terrible thing to rely on and an even worse moral… I really shouldn’t be writing after being awake for 19 hours on just 4 hours of sleep.
U of T community plans relief event for Japan
Last Friday’s earthquake in Japan has wiped out entire communities, left thousands of people dead, millions without power or water, and caused countless billions of dollars in damages. Given the scale of the disaster and the inspiring outpouring of aid and prayer for the stricken nation, members of the university community are stepping up to bring relief to the region.
Leading the charge is the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Effort led by students from OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) and GSA (Graduate Students Association). Event coordinators met for the first time on the morning of Tuesday, March 15, and have slated the event for 7PM Thursday March 31 at Woodsworth College’s Kruger Auditorium. The event is open to everyone and all proceeds will go to the Canadian Red Cross and an associated charity dedicated to education for displaced children in Japan.
“The events over the last few days in Japan have been devastating. Loved ones are missing, and there are struggles to get even basic emergency supplies to stricken areas,” says David Goldberg, event coordinator and PhD Candidate at the the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at OISE. “Regardless of our occupations, we wanted to unite our efforts to stage an event with one goal: to raise as much money as possible to donate to the Red Cross, one of the relief agencies approved by the Japanese government.”
A spokesperson from the Red Cross will be in attendance at the event to update the audience about how the relief efforts are proceeding. Jeff Myers, president of the GSA, and Josephine Mullally, Acting Dean of Students at Woodsworth College, will also be in attendance, both of whom have spent considerable time in Japan and will have prepared a visual presentation of the devastated areas.
“As educators, we thought it important to bring speakers to our event who can speak with knowledge about the relief efforts on the ground,” says Goldberg. “We are pleased that the Red Cross has agreed to speak at our event, and are awaiting word from other leaders in the Japanese community.”
In addition to the presentations of various guest speakers who are either actively involved with on site relief in Japan or share special ties with its afflicted communities (Mullally lived and worked in Miyagi Province for three years, one of the heavily damaged areas), there are arrangements for a silent auction, the proceeds of which will go directly to Red Cross. Various Japanese musical artists are also being invited to stage a performance.
In the meantime, the Canadian Red Cross is actively encouraging any and all donations for relief in Japan. And if you can’t chip in a few bucks, chip in a few documents to the U of T note exchange website www.NoteSolution.com, who will match every contribution made until this Saturday with $0.25 to Red Cross on your behalf.
