3000 Letters to Japan

So I have decided to take part in the event going on to help out the people who are suffering or are stuck in the evacuation centers up in the Tohoku area. The idea of the event is to send 3000 letters and have them be delivered to those that are in the centers. The idea and hope is that it will put a smile on their faces and give them hope. These people have been in the centers since the earthquake and most are very lucky survivors of the horrible disaster and have probably lost most of their most precious possessions, their lives in their towns, and possibly loved ones. I feel so bad for them as I would love to help them out, but it's difficult for me to go up there now to physically help out. But I thought that it I could help out without having to go all the way up there. Today was the first day back at some of the elementary schools that I work at. I thought it would be a great idea for the students to partake as well and have them write letters to their own countrymen to show support. So for the first day back, I did a brief self introduction again. This took only the first 20 minutes of class. Then for the remainder, I introduced the project and the kids got started writing right away. While some kids had trouble thinking of things to write, I saw a good majority writing encouraging and inspiring things. I didn't ask them to write too much....just some things like "We will get through this together" and "We are thinking of you" and things of that nature. But there was one kid who I got goosebumps from after hearing about it. He does chores at home and of course many kids nowadays will get an allowance. But what this one child does in particular is he currently donates all the money he earns to disaster relief. For a 5th grader, that is incredible and extremely selfless. I feel so happy that there was someone like that and am glad to know that some of these kids are so involved even though they are young. Of course, a good handful probably don't follow the news as closely so there were many that didn't know the full extent of what is happening in Japan at this time. However, I think it's also a good time to spread awareness and have them think outside of their own shoes and situation and keep those in Tohoku in mind. Nihon Ganbare!!!