Showing posts with label charity projects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charity projects. Show all posts

Saturday, April 27, 2013

New Sun Rising: Stories for Japan – charity status

When we all set about this project, you the contributors, all the people behind the scenes right from the very beginning, the team that brought the project to fruition, and you the readers of New Sun Rising: Stories for Japan, it was in order to help those affected by the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

We pledged all royalties from the book, paperback and kindle, toward the relief fund run by the Japanese Red Cross Society.

A little over two years on, we are pleased to report that we have sent two donations to the Japanese Red Cross Society. Amazon won´t let us divulge sales numbers and earnings, but to give you an idea, we hope to have made total donations of 500 Euros by the next deadline in 2014. 

In 2013, bank charges in Japan were waived, and members of the editorial team covered the outgoing bank charges as part of an extra donation. Unfortunately, sales in the UK were not high enough for us to access those royalties, but there is still time. Donations to the Japanese Red Cross Society relief fund can now still be sent with bank fees waived in Japan until 31 March 2014.

The original cut-off date was 31 March 2013, so the extension shows that there remains work to be done to help those affected and unfortunately probably already forgotten.

We also sent a copy of the anthology to the Japanese Red Cross Society for their offices and so they could see the work of the many contributors from all over the world.

Sales are slowing down now, but we have still registered sales this year, so when the money comes together before next year´s deadline, a further donation will be made. Members of the Editorial team will cover the outgoing bank charges so that we can honour the pledge we all made.

Since New Sun Rising: Stories for Japan will remain available beyond any bank fee waiver deadline, we will continue to send monies from the sale of the book to the Japanese Red Cross Society, since we are convinced that the effects of the disaster will make themselves felt for a long time. So we are on board for as long as it takes.

Thank you all, for your support!


Extracts from the letters from the Japanese Red Cross Society (18.04.2013):
"This is the Japanese Red Cross Society and would like to express our sincere gratitude for your donation to the disaster victims who were affected by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011. ...
Thank you once again for your generous and continuous support and cooperation."

"We hereby acknowledge, with sincere gratitude, receipt of your contribution for those affected by the Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant disaster. Based upon decisions made by the Cash Grant Allocation Committee, your donation will be distributed via the appropriate prefectural and municipal governments to support the recovery of those affected by this devastating disaster."

Extract of message (15.02.2013): 
" Today we have received your book and we thank you for introducing it to us.
We will surely enjoy reading it and feel your warm heart supporting the
affected people.

We deeply appreciate your kindness and passion for this incredible project.

Best wishes,
Organizational Development Department
Japanese Red Cross Society"

Monday, March 21, 2011

More Charity Writing Projects!

Wow, yes, okay. I have just heard about Write for Tohoku. My only excuse is that I've had my head down behind the scenes, trying to streamline our submission handling and begging for contributions from some amazing writers, and get the last bits of the site up.

It is so great to see how the literary community is organizing its resources to try and help people. And for Write for Tohoku, this is really close to home; they're in Japan. So, here is what they need:

We are a group of writers in Japan who are publishing an ebook to benefit survivors of the March 11, 2011 Tohoku-Kanto earthquake and tsunami. This project has two goals: to raise money for earthquake victims and to help overseas readers understand more about Japan and the kindness and hospitality of its people.

We invite all writers and translators in Japan to submit short pieces of writing (500-1000 words). We welcome travel stories, humor pieces, essays, translations from Japanese or other languages, interviews, profiles (of people or places) or other non-fiction work. Subject matter is up to you; we would like your writing to convey your take on the joys of traveling in Japan or the spirit of cooperation and togetherness demonstrated by residents of Japan after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

All proceeds from the sale of the ebook will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross.

Got that, guys? They want non-fiction and essays from writers and translators in Japan.



Also!

I have just heard of the mad-dash book project from Our Man in Abiko, JAPAN EARTHQUAKE: GET WRITING NOW!

He's aiming to get his book out TONIGHT!

He says:
I'm looking for contributions from anyone who has something to say about the earthquake. (eg where were you when it happened, what did you feel? How have you helped? Did it change anything in the way you live your life? Are you coping with grief? Or just bewildered behind a barrage of media images?)

I'm not looking for windy poetic stuff, just honest stuff.

Aim to write 250-300 words or so - equivalent to a short blog post (or one page of a book)

If you can contribute original (ie you have the copyright) artwork, a sketch drawing or cartoon that would be awesome too)

If you have any great tweets to submit - that would be great too.

Photos (that you took) would be really awesome.

Remember, he wants to publish ASAP, so if you got it, get it to him now.

Go. Help. Do good.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

By the skin of my teeth

I cannot believe it is only Tuesday. Well, Wednesday now. A few hours in.

This project, it started out on Sunday afternoon with just the slip of an idea for this thing, and you guys reached out with open arms and embraced it.

I am overwhelmed, I do not have words for how grateful I am to all of you. Maybe I would be able to find them if I were not so tired, but I doubt it. Sometimes the magnitude of a thing defies expression.

The facebook page is up, finally. (I swear, I meant to do it yesterday, but I just didn't get there.) I was getting ready for bed. Then I realized I forgot to blog about some other fund-raising projects for charities working in Japan.

I thought about going to bed anyway, but I don't know when I would find the time. And it's too important to get lost.


There's the Authors for Japan auction going on. They have some fabulous stuff. Like a signed copy of The Man Who Painted Agnieszka’s Shoes and the original cover art. (Dan Holloway's encouragement and support was instrumental in starting the New Sun Rising snowball on its journey down the mountain.)

Go. Look. Spend unwisely.

Also in author related fundraising, Stella Deleuze is giving 100% of the sales from her Kindle book to the British Red Cross. Go on, check it out.


(Now I'll go to bed. I promise, Sessha.)