News Stories

A group of faculty, staff and students at the Monterey Institute, many of whom are Japanese American, launched a fundraising drive on March 15 aimed at supporting relief efforts in area of Japan devastated by the recent earthquake and tsunami.

A message to the campus community, which includes 21 students from Japan, described the genesis of this effort: “The situation in Japan in the wake of last week’s earthquake and tsunami is heartbreaking and we are all challenged to find ways that we can help to alleviate human suffering and restore some sense of normalcy for the hundreds of thousands of people affected by this disaster.” The group developed a three-track approach for their fundraising drive:

  • Members of the Japan Forum, a student club, have set up a booth at the Samson Student Center during lunch hours to collect individual donations.
  • The MIIS Student Council has agreed to dedicate all proceeds from the upcoming MIIS Student Follies, scheduled for April 1, to this fundraising effort.
  • The group has requested that any other contributions made by members of the Monterey Institute campus community be directed to the JSNC Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund established by the Japan Society of Northern California. JSNC will use its partners at Give2Asia to identify organizations in Japan supporting the relief and recovery efforts and direct contributions from MIIS to those organizations in Japan.

Donations may be made in cash or check, and all donations collected by students, faculty and staff at MIIS will be delivered to Give2Asia. All checks should be made out to “Give2Asia”, and should include the contributor’s name and mailing address, and a note indicating that the money is for the “JSNC Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund”. For those wishing to give directly to Give2Asia, their mailing address is: P.O. Box 193223, San Francisco, CA 94119-3223.

The message to the campus community was signed by faculty and staff members Tsuneo Akaha, Kayoko Takeda, Masako Toki, Naoko Matsuo, Hideko Russell, Tanya Pound, Yoko Yamamoto and Erin Morita. Their message notes in closing that “(a)t this very difficult time for the Japanese people, we at the Monterey Institute have an opportunity to be part of the solution.”

For More Information

Jason Warburg
jwarburg@middlebury.edu
831.647.3156

Eva Gudbergsdottir
eva@middlebury.edu
831.647.6606