Students continue fundraising effort for Japan
The Japanese Student Association at Syracuse University is collecting money from now until the end of March to send to Japan relief efforts responding to the March 11 earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
The campaign officially began March 14 with collection boxes around campus, including the Slutzker Center for International Services, the chemistry department and Sims Hall Room 100. All proceeds will go to the Consulate General of Japan in New York, which will send the money directly to Japan.
The 9.0-magnitude earthquake that struck northern Japan on March 11 also caused a tsunami. There are 58 international students from Japan on campus, and countless other members of the SU community have been affected by the disaster through friends and family.
The group set up a table in the Schine Student Center on Monday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The group will also collect donations in Schine on Tuesday at the same times and in the Academic Village in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The group’s goal is for each student on campus to donate $1, said Yuriko Takahashi, JSA’s secretary and a second-year doctorate student studying chemistry. One problem the group saw on the first day was that many students do not carry cash, but the group hopes the fliers will remind them to come back the next day with money.
‘It’s going well, but we found the problem is that many students don’t have cash,’ Takahashi said.
The group passed out more than 600 fliers to students who stopped by the table in Schine on Monday, Takahashi said.
At least one JSA member is at the table at all times, and other members are encouraged to help out at the table when they are available, said Midori Shiroyama, JSA’s vice president. There are approximately 50 students in JSA.
JSA feels collecting money is the best way to help because there are so many things the country needs. The government has a better idea of who needs money than JSA does, which is why the group is not designating it to any specific place, Shiroyama said.
‘We are not really sure what they need right now,’ Shiroyama said.
JSA also has cloth Japanese flags on the table for students to write messages with a Sharpie marker. Kaori LaClair, a Japanese instructor, made the flags and will send them back with a friend to relay the positive messages. Messages in both Japanese and English adorn the flag with phrases like ‘Stay strong Japan!’ ‘Never give up!’ and ‘I love Japan!’
JSA is a great source of support among students during this time, said Patricia Burak, director of the Slutzker Center.
Said Burak: ‘The Japanese Student Association has been phenomenal.’
Published on March 20, 2011 at 12:00 pm
