Three days after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Japan, Syracuse University’s Japanese Student Association assembled to collect donations for victims.

The fundraiser, which began March 14, concluded March 31 after raising more than $7,500, said Midori Shiroyama, JSA’s vice president and a communication and rhetorical studies graduate student.

The donations will go toward the Consulate General of Japan in New York, where the proper Japanese government officials will distribute the funds to affected areas at their discretion, Shiroyama said.

JSA distributed collection boxes across campus and set up tables to collect contributions on March 21 and 22 in both the Schine Student Center and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Shiroyama said. Students also had the opportunity to write messages of condolence on Japanese flags at the tabling sessions, Shiroyama said.

Though financial contributions are necessary, Shiroyama said heartfelt responses, such as the written messages, will offer a humane comfort to the Japanese that no amount of money could generate.

Shiroyama said she was pleasantly surprised by the outreach of support from both the SU community and surrounding universities. JSA was contacted by several individual departments, students and faculty at SU interested in contributing to fundraising efforts. SU’s JSA has also joined Action for Japan, a group established by students at Cornell University, Shiroyamasaid. The JSA is using the group to help promote a charity concert that will be held at St. Paul’s Cathedral on April 12 at 7 p.m.

After gathering the donation boxes Thursday, JSA is now working to distribute new boxes across campus through the end of the school year and at the commencement ceremony in May, Shiroyama said. She said the organization hopes to involve the family and friends of graduating seniors in fundraising efforts.

Although Shiroyama recognizes the funds raised by JSA are minimal relative to the widespread destruction in Japan, the amount will help offer resources vital to survival, such as shelter and food to evacuees, she said.

‘It will contribute to the small things,’ she said.

Shiroyama said it is understandable that media attention is gradually drifting away from the earthquake coverage in Japan to more recent upheaval in places like Libya. But it is important to remind the public of the difficult road of recovery still awaiting Japan, she said.

After worrying about the well-being of two Japanese exchange students following the earthquake, Jessica Wilkerson, a sophomore computer science major, said she commended the JSA’s fundraising campaign.

‘I think we have a very diverse, international student body, and part of being in college is expanding your worldview and helping the world around you,’ she said. ‘When you combine those two things, it’s important to band together to help the families affected.’

dbtruong@syr.edu

Published on April 4, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Debbie: dbtruong@syr.edu | @debbietruong