Birmingham-Based Japanese School Raises More Than $13,000 for Disaster Relief

It’s been two weeks since an earthquake and tsunami rocked Japan — killing close to 10,000 and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless — but many Birmingham students are doing all they can to help by reaching out to the area’s Japanese community.

The nonprofit Detroit Ringo Kai and the Japanese School of Detroit — which Ringo Kai runs out of — is utilizing its home base to raise funds alongside Birmingham schools to benefit the Japanese Red Cross Society and those affected by the diaster.

Residents dig deep into their pockets

Since last weekend, when students gathered to raise funds at West Maple Elementary and Seaholm High School, Birmingham students have raised $13,211, according Itaru Inoue, Detroit Ringo Kai general manager.

“We really appreciate the local people’s generosity,” Inoue said. “We have gotten very generous donations; we were surprised to collect such a huge amount.”

In total, the organization has raised $37,644 through a variety of fundraising efforts throughout the city, all of which will be donated to provide disaster relief for Japanese citizens affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

According to the latest report from The Associated Press, hundreds of thousands of Japanese are living in shelters; 660,000 homes don't have water; and another 209,000 don't have electricity.

Inoue said his family in Japan was unaffected by the tsunami; however, many students at the Japanese School of Detroit have family and friends whom they have not been able to contact, he said.

“Small kids probably don’t think anything about it, (but) bigger students are worried about family and friends (and) are pretty upset,” he said.

Detroit Ringo Kai has been uniting Detroit's Japanese community for nearly 40 years. Founded by area Japanese companies, the group runs the Japanese School, which instructs students in kindergarten through 12th grade in supplementary lessons from traditional Japanese curricula, in Japanese. Students attend 42 Saturday sessions per year as part of the program, with elementary students attending and older students attending Seaholm.

On March 19, students stood in front of Seaholm to wave down cars and ask for contributions. Robb and Judy Clark of Birmingham stopped by shortly after noon that day to contribute.

“It’s a great tragedy, and we were thinking about donating to the Red Cross,” Robb said. “When we heard about this, we thought, ‘Well, let’s stop at the school.’ ”

Yoshi Sugimoto, a Japanese School board member, said last weekend’s turnout was good, but they always need more.

“Many people are stopping out here, giving us lots of money for the people suffering in Japan,” Sugimoto said. “It’s greatly appreciated.”

Elementary students lend a helping hand

But Birmingham students aren’t finished raising money for those affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Students from Pembroke and Harlan Elementary are raising funds to donate to the Save the Children Fund, a nonprofit organization that helps children affected by natural diasters.

Vickie Muir, community school organizer for Pembroke and Harlan, said a group of fifth-graders came up with the idea to raise funds through a coin drive. Scheduled parent-teacher conferences meant that more parents would be coming through the building, making the drive a perfect opportunity to reach out, Muir said.

“In addition, students at Pembroke are also offering to do chores for their parents in exchanges for contributions," she said.

“I was definitely surprised how full the bin was at Pembroke just shortly after they started collecting,” Muir said. “I think the students really took the message to heart.”

To donate to the Japanese School of Detroit’s relief fund, send donations to Detroit Ringo Kai at Seaholm High School, 2435 W. Lincoln Ave. Make checks payable to Detroit Ringo Kai and note that the check is for “disaster relief.”