SOS for binkies to send to families in Japan
Our amazing volunteers, 2 chapter leaders and Cindy at Calico House Quilt Shop in Placentia have blown us away with the response to this SOS for binkies to send to families in Japan. There are over 1,100 quilts so far that have been collected. Thank you to the Shin Koyamada Foundation and its president, Shoichi Nakagiri for assisting us in getting our binkies shipped from CA to Japan and into the loving arms of these families.
An idea, a generous shop owner with a huge mailing list and there we have over 1,100 quilts collected in less than a month. As is the issue with these types of big disasters, the players change daily.
An update: We are currently working with a combination of contacts who can get the binkies to Japan. These include a charitable foundation, Toyota, the Japanese Consulate and others. The beauty of social media and fantastic networking groups is that when you put it out there, "help – we need to get 1,100 quilts to Japan!" the responses came pouring in. We just need to work out logistics as this challenge continues and the quilts come in.
Helen Downing, one of our co-chapter leaders in La Habra, California tells us about the quilts and volunteers, "People have been very generous and have made an extra effort because of the horrific nature of this disaster I feel very strongly the quilts need to go to Japan.
Some people have written notes in Japanese and attached them to the quilts. And then there is the woman who hand pieced and hand quilted her quilt. It is the first and only one she will ever make as she has arthiritis now and can no longer do hand work. These are the stories that make me feel so strongly that the quilts HAVE to go to Japan."
Thank you to the Shin Koyamada Foundation and its president, Shoichi Nakagiri for assisting us in getting our binkies shipped from CA to Japan and into the loving arms of these families.
Thank you to everyone pulling this together!