Volunteer Story: Wolfgang Bierer

Since the earthquake hit Northeast Japan, many volunteers have helped us by coming to our warehouse to sort supplies and/or holding fundraising events at places where they live. Wolfgang did the both. His message explains how he has done so much for Second Harvest Japan's disaster relief efforts.

My private efforts started on the day I was waiting for my flight to Germany at Osaka Airport. I was so sad to leave and make up my mind that I need to do something while in Germany. I contacted my local newspaper in Germany and said I would like to do something in Germany and they supported me. One week after the quake I arrived in Germany, setup a separate charity bank account and an article was published in the newspaper on Saturday. The fund started flowing and I got hundreds of emails on my charity email account. I joined the Facebook Group Rebuild Japan and distributed information through this page. Further I contacted companies and asked for donation as well as my hometown, the church, the small business community, my old school, etc. I made a speech in the church, at a small business assembly meeting of my town, etc. I emailed all my friends and asked them to further distribute the email to friends and their companies, so the response was overwhelming. Last I checked we got over 6,500,000 yen. I got lucky to raise additional funds for 2HJ, since my neighbor told me that a big charity concert of the Stuttgart orchestras looking through a newspaper article for a proper project to donate the money from the charity concert. I called the organizer next morning and was invited. I introduced 2HJ and gave a speech in front of 2000 guests of the charity concert and succeeded to secure the funds for Second Harvest. We got over 7,500,000 yen from that event. All together I was able to secure 14,000,000 Yen (over 120,000 Euro) in 5 weeks.

2HJ Executive Director Charles McJilton (left)
 and Wolfgang Bierer

We had an instant distribution site at a evacuation center.

Our trucks with emergency vehicle permits. 

Devastated area in Ishinomaki

Devastated area in Ishinomaki

Near an evacuation center in Ishinomaki

Wolfgang unloading supplies with volunteers.

We would like to show gratitudes to Wolfgang for his great efforts. Thank you, Wolfgang!

Also, we would like to thank all other fundraisers who held and are holding fundraiser events all over the world. Your help is making a big difference in the lives of those in the disaster-affected areas.

Thank you all for your great work!

All the photos are by Wolfgang Bierer. 

April 21 (Thursday): From Toono, Iwate

Since our relief efforts in Sendai, Miyagi, has become pretty smooth and the situation in Sendai has slowed down, we moved our field office to Toono, Iwate, on Apr 19. 

Toono has been a good place for field offices for many aid-agencies because it is just an-hour drive from different disaster areas like Miyako, Kamaishi, and Rikuzentakada and it has a solid infrastructure now. 

We have been working with Toono Magokoro Net to share supplies and information to deliver supplies to Ofunato as a main target area. 

One of One Family Sendai's staff members is from Ofunato and he connected us with locals in Ofunato. We are trying to collect necessary information from the local people. 

Ofunato downtown is also devastated. The tsunami reached the main part of the town. 

We are trying to reach not only evacuation centers, but also hidden needs such as isolated elderlies and families staying at their relatives' places. 

A professional soccer player, Ogasawara, sent a message to those in Ofunato since he was from Ofunto high school's soccer team. This encourages also people like us who are in Ofunato to support the disaster victims. 

The message from Ogasawara. 

April 21 (Thursday): Earthquake Response Report - Our Work So Far

Second Harvest Japan (2HJ) started relief activities in the affected areas directly after Tohoku-Kanto earthquake hit. As well as food, fuel was in short supply there, and many people were suffering from cold and hunger. However, roads blocked by the earthquake made delivering supplies difficult.

On the third day after the earthquake, 2HJ staff accompanied CNN reporters to the affected areas and were able to obtain emergency vehicle license numbers. This made it possible for 2HJ to deliver supplies more quickly.

Since just after the earthquake, 2HJ has received many relief supplies from a variety of corporations, including food companies and individuals. Many volunteers rush to sort and load the supplies onto the trucks every day. Two four-ton freight vehicles — one with refrigeration capacity — have made trips to the affected areas every day. As of April 21, 2HJ has delivered more than 40 trucks worth of supplies to the affected areas.

Furthermore, on March 16, 2HJ set up the 2HJ Disaster Restoration Office in Sendai city in collaboration with its partners, Food Bank Tohoku AGAIN and Sendai One Family. After that, 2HJ set up bases in places such as Ishinomaki City and Tome City in Miyagi Prefecture, Iwaki City and Shinchi-machi in Fukushima Prefecture, and Ofunato City in Iwate Prefecture to collect information and distribute supplies. 2HJ is working hard to provide continuous and intensive support to the people who are most in need.

2HJ will continue accepting relief supplies from corporations and individuals and deliver them to the affected areas. While carrying on its usual activities such as food banking and running a soup kitchen, 2HJ is planning to provide emergency assistance to the victims in the short term, and food aid to accompany life and reconstruction assistance in the long term.

On the third day after the earthquake, COO of 2HJ got into a town that had been swept away by the tsunami. He had no words to describe the catastrophic condition of the town. He says that he felt strongly that "Only continuous and long-term support can reconstruct this situation." We sincerely look forward to your continued support and cooperation. It's going to be a long way, but we must go on!                                                                 

(This is a first-hand account from Otake-san, 2HJ COO)

 I arrived on the ground on the morning of the third day after the earthquake. After delivering gas canisters and heavy fuel oil to Food Bank Tohoku AGAIN, I joined the CNN crew and got into Rikuzentakada City in Iwate Prefecture. The shocking scene I saw was really beyond words.

The Self-Defense Force was continuing relief activities through the aftershocks and tsunami warnings, but I saw few inhabitants. Where had they gone? Had they already escaped from the town? Everything had been swept away. It was so catastrophic—as if it had been bombed—that you couldn't believe that there had been a town, houses and people living there just a few days before.

I felt myself to be really helpless before the devastation. No matter how many packages we could deliver by truck, they would never be enough... but then I thought about it some more; even if it might be just a drop in the ocean, we must do what we can do now.

The activities that 2HJ has provided are also the same. We cannot save all the poor people or people in need but still we have continued the activities in a step-by-step way. I felt that was the most essential thing.

There are no supplies not only in the shelters, but also in the affected areas, and there are kilometer-long lines in front of supermarkets and gas stations. Only young and vigorous people, however, can stand in lines in below freezing temperatures. Vulnerable groups, including the elderly, people in poor health, and the physically challenged, are completely left behind. But those people also need support.

A mother and her young daughter were standing in a soup kitchen line. Apparently it was the first time for them to be in a soup kitchen line. I was shocked by their reserved and apologetic attitude. It was so different from what we had seen in the soup kitchens in Tokyo.

This will be really a long road, but 2HJ will go on applying the know-how it has accumulated over the years to help.

2HJ delivered food to Food Bank Ibaragi

We delivered food items like retort-pouch curries, bananas, and bread to Food Bank Ibaragi. This allowed us to deliver food to the disaster area in Northern Ibaragi. We appreciate the cooperation of Food Bank Ibaragi and all other volunteers for making this happen!

Retort-pouch curries 2HJ delivered.

2HJ's 4-ton refrigeration truck just arrived at Tsukuba.     

Food Bank Ibaragi delivered the food to different areas.

Please take a look at other photos at Food Bank Ibaragi's web album: https://profiles.google.com/103870000456568100939/photos/5591300058390043201

April 11 (Monday): From Sendai

We are sorry we could not update the blog sooner. This is a report from Sendai. We had a blackout all night when we had a big aftershock the other day. But except for that, it was not very chaotic in Sendai. But we heard, on coastal sides, many half-collapsed buildings completely collapsed with the aftershock.

The number of requests for emergency food assistance started decreasing but we are offering continual support to the disaster areas. Now there are many soup-kitchens in different places and hot meals are served to the evacuees.

It's been a month since the earthquake and now many groups can serve hot meals to evacuees in their shelters. They are very happy when we bring fresh produce, fish and meat since those items are very hard to get still.

We believe delivering safe and nutritious food to those in need is our mission. Thank you very much for your continual support!


Delivered Areas: Kesenuma city, Minami Sanriku, Onnagawa, Ofunato in Iwate

March 23 (Wed): Minami Souma

We delivered food and supplies to Minami Souma City, which is located within 30km of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, in the indoor evacuation zone. According to the Municipal Government of Minami Souma City, they must go out of the city if they want supplies, but with the shortage of gasoline, they decided to establish a center to receive relief supplies at the Souma General Wholesale Market, located on the northern side of the city, outside the 30km range from the nuclear power plant.  Learning that they will start operating the center from the 22^nd, our executive director, Charles, and a staff member, Kawada, delivered supplies to the Souma General Wholesale Market on a 2-ton truck.

The Municipal Government of Minami Souma City

Souma General Wholesale Market

Based on the following information from the local people that: there is electricity, gas and water and they can cook; there are enough blankets and water; and they need food and supplies on a 50-50 ratio, we loaded curry (113 boxes, 3390 servings), jelly drinks (187 boxes, 748 drinks), and other items donated by individuals such as cup noodles, snacks, canned food, masks, diapers, sanitary goods, towels and pocket body warmers, and arrived at the Souma General Wholesale Market after 8:30 on the 23^rd.

Relief supplies seemed to be gradually coming in: supplies other than those from Second Harvest Japan were scheduled to arrive.  Supplies collected here will be transferred to Minami Souma City sequentially and distributed to the citizens.

Later, we entered the city to find that all stores and banks were closed, and aside from the Municipal Government, nothing seemed to be open.  According to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Department of the Municipal Government of Minami Souma City, they are holding briefing sessions and recommending citizens to evacuate.  There are approximately 10,000 people remaining within the city.  Since they are all staying at their respective homes, there is no problem regarding supplies in general so far, but there aren’t enough diapers for the elderly.  They also said they would like to have something that would offer solace, like comfort food and sweets.

We then checked on the damage in the coastal regions and saw that most people were wearing masks.  However, they didn’t seem to mind much about getting wet in the snow.  There were cars, but we hardly saw anyone walking or riding bicycles.

The following day, on the 24^th, we called the Municipal Government and learned that:

・they were confirming how many people were remaining in the city

・many citizens were coming to the two distribution centers within the city to receive relief supplies

・since volunteers and members of the Self Defense Forces were making personal calls and delivering relief supplies, there may not be so many people who haven’t received anything at all

A considerable amount of supplies has been delivered till now, but since it is uncertain as to how long this situation is going to persist, they explained that they will continue accepting supplies for the time being.

March 24 (Thu): From Sendai

Continued delivery of supplies to hospitals, welfare facilities and evacuation sites.

We also made phone calls using information on isolated facilities, and directly visited those which we could not get through to, since there was a possibility they could not send out an SOS. 

Affected hospitals and welfare facilities are mainly occupied by patients, with many staff members staying over since the earthquake. They all seem to be very exhausted.

Under such circumstances, it is difficult for them to secure gasoline and procure goods, so we try to be of service by delivering goods in response to their requests.

With needs concentrating on certain supplies, our usual Second Harvest Japan’s activity of securing such supplies and appropriately redistributing them to multiple facilities is proving useful in our current support activities.

We confirm details beforehand if we are able to obtain direct information, but predict the needs, pack up the goods, decide on how to go about at the sites and then head forward in case we are unable to contact the sites by phone.

We make sure to provide detailed service by communicating with the local staff in charge.

Delivery Areas: Ishinomaki City, Tagajo City Higashimatsuyama City, Natori City, within Sendai City

Number of Delivery Sites: 15 (6 evacuation sites, 3 hospitals, 4 welfare facilities, and 2 others.)

Goods to be Delivered: Sanitary goods, rice balls, tea, dog food, underwear, etc.

Thank you for your warm support.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Gives 1500 Costco gift certificates to 2HJ!

Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Japan has given us 1500 Costco gift certificates valued at ¥5000 each for a total value of ¥7,500,000. We deeply appreciate their continued support of those in need in the disaster area.

Thank you, Bank of America Merrill Lynch! 

12-hour "Care-aoke" marathon raises money for the North-East of Japan

Team Care-aoke held "Care-aoke" marathon as a fundraiser event for Second Harvest Japan's disaster relief activities. Thank you, Team Care-aoke! Second Harvest Japan thanks your help on behalf of those in most need now.


Here is a message from Team Care-aoke:

Proud to currently call Tokyo home and caring very much about Japan, a group of friends, Team Care-aoke, came together to find a way to support Japan in the aftermath of the recent earthquake and tsunami. The idea of a karaoke marathon was raised and one week later this became a reality and Care-aoke hit the stage at Tokyo Karaoke bar ‘Fiesta’ on Friday, April 1, 2011. Over 180 people took part in this fundraising event and through a live streaming link the 12-hour singing session was also inflicted upon a number of others around the world. We raised a large amount of money online and on the night as well as through random cash donations, with 400,000 yen going to Second Harvest Japan. Much of the global news coverage has moved on but the death toll from this disaster continues to rise each day and hundreds of thousands of people are living in temporary shelters without access to basic supplies. We hope the money raised at this event will go a long way to helping individuals and families in the worst hit areas of Japan as they start to rebuild their lives.
 Thank you to all of our virtual and physical supporters for your generosity and thank you Second Harvest for helping the people in Tohoku!

April 1 (Friday): From Sendai

All the staff members and volunteers work together for loading and unloading relief supplies.

When unloading relief supplies from a 4-ton truck, we all line up and hand relief supplies to each other.

In night meetings we review how the distribution went on the day and what evacuees need  most.

"Now that evacuees have enough rice, we should supply something to make accompanying dishes."

"Evacuees would be delighted with newspapers, as they have little information sources."

"Evacuees want portable partitions."

There are many other demands.

We also plan how we distribute relief supplies the following day.

Since petrol is still hard to get, we have to plan an effective distribution route.

The following morning, we load up trucks with relief supplies as planed, and each truck goes to its destination.

Five trucks are going to Minami-Sanriku, Onagawa, Ishinomaki, and Tome today.

We sincerely give our gratitude to you all for your warming support.

CNNGo and Japan Times Covered Second Harvest's Disaster Relief Activities

Here are links to articles of CNNGo and Japan Times covering Second Harvest Japan's disaster relief activities in Northeast Japan.

CNNGo: Tokyo's first food bank mobilizes for earthquake and tsunami vitims

Japan Times: Second Harvest rallies support for Tohoku

We are grateful for all the people who make our efforts possible. Thank you very much for your support!

March 27 (Sunday): From Sendai

In the wake of the disaster, we are continuing to secure supplies for one of the hardest-hit areas, the city of Ishinomaki, as well as for the evacuation centers.

However, for the just under 30,000 victims sheltering at the evacuation centers, there are still around 50,000 who remain in their homes.

Due to the gasoline shortage they cannot go to buy food; it is these people whose need is currently the greatest.

And so at Second Harvest Japan (2HJ), in cooperation with local non-profit organizations, we went about providing supplies for the housebound victims of the disaster.

As for other regions, we are making rounds in the town of Onagawa and the city of Higashimatsushima, visiting small evacuation centers, gathering places, etc.

There are also places in which the supply of food is not regular; the people say they worry about their next meal.

In order to support the relief effort, we went about delivering rice balls. However while there are supplies of carbohydrates in the wake of the disaster, such as rice balls and bread, sources of protein (such as meat and fish) and vitamins (vegetables), among other things, are extremely scarce.

As the time spent by victims in the evacuation shelters grows longer, we are concerned about their becoming ill due to the lack of a balanced diet.

In order to prevent this, at 2HJ we are liaising with our head office in Tokyo, keeping in mind the idea of nutritional balance, making sure to supply food to the affected areas.

Delivered Areas on Mar 25 to 27

Ishinomaki, Tagajō, Higashimatsushima, Natori, Minamisanriku, Sendai

No. of Delivered Agencies: 41

Evacuation centers: 21

Hospitals: 4
Welfare/care facilities: 6

Other: 10

Delivered Items:

Vacuum-packed (boil-in-the-bag) meals, sweets and snacks, personal hygiene products, rice balls, dog food, underwear, vegetables, rice, etc.

Everyone, thank you for your kind support!

Mar 26 & 27: 2HJ Asakusabashi Office in Tokyo

On Saturday, we operate our regular activities, soup kitchen at Ueno Park and pickup from harvest pantry, besides the emergency relief efforts, so lots of volunteers helped us.

Dear all volunteers! We could smoothly finish all our work thanks to your help.

We sincerely appreciate you all for your support.

Relief supplies are also continuously arriving at our office from individuals and companies across the country. Again, we really would like to thank you all for your support!!

We delivered supplies to the office of Earth Day Tokyo, which Second Harvest Japan participates in.

Earth Day Tokyo 2011 will take place on April 22 and more than 130 thousand people are expected to join.

Earth Day Tokyo has established Relief Action division, and operates soup run and relief supply distribution in Ishinomaki City.

A 2-ton trunk full of retort-pouch curry, soup, juice, biscuits, chocolate, canned foods, sanitary items and other basic necessities will be delivered to Ishinomaki City by Earth Day Tokyo.

Making best use of what we have received from our donors, we are looking forward to hearing how it was received in Ishinomaki City.

On the following Sunday 27, our 4-ton truck headed out to Iwaki City around noon, and another freezer/refrigerator vehicle departed for Shinchi Town in Fukushima late at night.