This Wednesday, March 16th, 2011 from 9pm until 12-ish, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: LOVE BRIGADE and SOCK DRIVE for Japan
Admission to CraftNight is: a.) Bring me some NEW socks (adult sizes encouraged) for the drive or b.) Show me a confirmation that you’ve sent $10 to the Red Cross or Unicef or some such other organization that is helping the people of Japan.
Use your phone to text REDCROSS to 90999 to Give $10 (red cross text FAQ here)
And if you want to give more, you can donate to the Red Cross Here
For Unicef you can Text JAPAN to 864233 to donate $10
Donate to Unicef Here and here is an article on sending a contribution that makes a direct difference.
Friend of CraftNight, Megumi, who is in Japan, has asked us to send pictures of well wishes to the Tohuko Children’s shelter. We shall make drawings, cards, take photos of them and post them on Facebook for her to re-post to the Japanese site. We’re sending “virtual” cards, because lots of people don’t have walls anymore, no walls to hang stuff. Many kids in Sendai and surrounding prefectures were in school and were never picked up by their parents. This is only one tiny scenario of how thousands of peoples’ lives have been changed forever.
In the face of such mind-blowing obliteration and hellish devastation, it can feel absolutely insignificant to send a card to someone who has lost everything and everyone they once knew. But we will try to send at least a little love, and some socks, and make a donation, in solidarity. I feel totally helpless, but we’ve got to start somewhere.
I was an exchange student in Sendai, Japan in 1988. I am heartbroken for all the damage I’ve seen, Sendai is a beautiful place, with beautiful and generous people. Matsushima Bay in Miyagi Prefecture is listed as one of the “Three Views” in Japan (somewhat akin to the 7 wonders of the world) and I remember being on a boat in that sea, with seagulls following the boat and diving for crumbs. We puttered through many tiny pine-topped islands poking out of the sea, some of them with ancient tunnels carved in them by the water. It is still astonishing that the same water that can make changes over thousands of years is also the same water that makes changes in mere minutes.
It’s also hard not to want to be glib and push the whole thing aside or dismiss it and go get another English muffin. If that’s where you’re at, believe me, I understand. Disassociation is not a stranger to me either. To let in destruction and grief is highly “inconvenient” and can dismantle a person for days on end. If you’d rather not think about it: then please… use your cell phone for 2 minutes and send a donation. That way, you can go do your thing, but you can breathe easier and know that one day, god forbid if you lose everything you have, someone in Japan will use their cell phone to help you. And they will probably feel weird about it too, just sayin.
And, if you can’t come in tonight, but want to send something anyway, make and send your card to the CraftNight page on Facebook, where Megumi can grab it and send it onward.
See you at the Craft Table,
JP Craft Captain
