Wednesday, April 20, 2011

大成功!チャリティーイベント Success! YAMATO,JAPAN FUNDRAISER EVENT

4月16日土曜日。この日は日本へのチャリティーイベントの当日。震災が起こってからこの日まで、数々の人たちが手伝ってくれた。We had been working hard for the Yamato, Japan Fundraiser event. but on April 16th, it was snowing in the morning,,,. Can we really have it still?!
前日は7時間ほどかかって地元の人の協力を得て大量に当日のディナーを教会のキッチンを提供して頂いて作った。学生の時に食物栄養を専攻していたので、大量調理は経験済みだけど、今回は一段と大変だった気がする!The day before the event, Jane, Dawn, Maki and I made lots of food for the event at the good shepherd church in Viroqua, it took us about 7 hours. They also let us use their youth room for our meeting . We were so thankful for their generosity!
メインは肉じゃが!お母さんの味!この他にこの日は黒ゴマプリンも大量に作った!This is for the main dish for the event is called 'Nikujyaga'. (Simmered Meet and Potato) It is a very popular Japanese dish. We also made tons of black mousse too! その間息子のフィンはお友達がベビーシッターしてくれ、その後は程よくお昼寝をしてくれて、キッチンでは色々なものを見つけては一人で遊んでくれた。この1カ月ほど、このイベントに向けての準備であんまりかまってあげられなくてごめんね、、、。Finn has been such a good boy. I've been so busy that I couldn't pay my full attention to him for several days,,,. sorry buddy!
ケンタッキー州からかけつけてくれた学生時代からの友人マキは、14時間のドライブをして途中シカゴで日本食の材料を調達してくれ、ウィスコンシンへ13日の夜到着後、休みなく手伝ってくれた。イベントまでは夜中まで一緒に準備を手伝ってくれて、、、。ほんとありがとね。Maki who lives Kentucky drove up to Wisconsin to help with the event and visit. It took her 14 hours and she stopped by the Japanese market in Chicago to pick up some ingredient for the event. She worked all week helping us prepare! most nights we worked until midnight, I hope Maki is getting her sleep now,,,.
ステージでパフォーマンスやプレゼンテーションをしてくれる方々も数日前から準備をしてくれた。この方はお隣町に住むマローネルソンさん83歳。彼は朝鮮戦争の頃日本にアーミーとして滞在していたころ、ファーマーであったことからも、日本の農業に興味があり、滞在中は農家に訪れ、その後日本に酪農業を広めたという日本の酪農業で重要な役目を果たして下さった方。今回はその頃の日本の様子や戦後日本人をウィスコンシンへファームステイを斡旋したという貴重な写真と共に語ってくださる。酪農業が盛んなこの町の人としてもネルソンさんのお話はとっても興味津々でした!We are preparing for the stage presentation by Mr. Nelson who helped Japan's dairy industry for 60 years or so. His story is so interesting, I've never imagined that someone from this area (Westby) taught dairy farming to the Japanese in the 50s. Without him, we wouldn't have so much milk in Japan! He brought a lots of old photos and Clovis was able to scan them so they could be prejected on the stage screen!
当日の朝、外を見ると4月も中旬というのになんと雪が深々と降っている、、、。どうなる事やら、、、。
装飾に使うこれまたすべてドネーションしてもらった木の枝やら料理やら、すべて会場へ運び出す。お昼にはラジオにてインタビューが待っていたので、なんやかんやと準備で大忙し。雪はそのうちやんでくれた!The morning of the event, it was snowing!!! Middle of April,,,? we were bit nervous about carrying lots of stuff to the event in the snow. John Z donated us such beautiful branches and flowers for the decoration! It really made a nice Japanese atmosphere! 以前トモコさんに頂いた甚平さんがきられるようになったので、フィンに着せて。尚美さんにもらったのは昨年のお友達のウェディングパーティーやその他パーティーでいっぱい着させてもらったよ~~Tomoko, Finn is big enough to ware the Jinbei you gave to him! He is so cute in the Jinbei!! We love it!
会場はビロクアの町中にあるパブリックマーケットと’オプティモ’というレストランを提供してもらった。The event took place at the Public Market and the Optimo restaurant. The owner let us use it without charging so we could save the cost and send it to Japan instead! Thank you so much!
浴衣の試着コーナ-。ちなみにこの浴衣は地元の方にお借りしました。まさかこんなに多くの浴衣をビロクアの町で持っている人がいるとは!! Brenda, who lives in Viroqua, lived in Japan for a couple of years and sometimes she thows a Sushi party locally. I was amazed how many Japanese things she has! more then me! She let us use many things such as her Yukata, Kimono, Suchi plates etc. Thank you so much! We had a photo corner for Yukata.
内掛けまで、、、。This Kimono called UCHIKAKE is for weddings. This is also from Brenda. We put it up at the entrance of the Optimo! Looks great!
こちらはサイレントオークションコーナー。町の皆さんが色々なものをドネーションして下さいました!この売り上げはすべて寄付金となります。今回約$3000位になりました!さて、午後3時いよいよオープン!Many people donated goods or servecis for the silent auction! It was probably around $3,000 we raised from silent auction alone! Now it's Open! YAMATO, JAPAN FUNDRAISER!!!
食事も準備完了。メインには肉じゃが、ご飯、味噌汁そしてサワークラウトはお漬物変わり。デザートには黒ゴマプリン。この隣で試食デモンストレーションとして、細巻き、餃子、そしてお好み焼きを作りました。すべて大好評!やった!We are ready to serve our Delicious dinner now!
Menu: Nikujyaga, Burdock Miso Soup, Rice, Black Mousse as a main dinner also we had Sushi roll, Gyoza and Okonomiyaki at the demo food corner. People seemed to enjoy the food a lot! I couldn't take photos since I was making them,,,. I think people here have a better idea now of what we eat in Japan!
さて、ステージではパフォーマンスが続きます。Leo Hansenさんの尺八の演奏は何とも心が落ち着く!まさかビロクアで尺八の演奏を聴けるとは思いませんでした!そして忍者パフォーマンス、タイの伝統ダンス(2004年の津波から生き延びた女の子が披露してくれました)、ネルソンさんのスピーチ、ローカルファーマーのキーフは日本でのファームステイの体験をスライドショーと合わせて語ってくれました。そして友人マキの花笠音頭。We had wonderful performances on the stage! Mr. Leo Hansen from Minneapolis played SHAKUHACHI which is a Japanese traditional instrument. It is like meditation music. I was imagining a Japanese temple with cedar and plain tree around. Also we had Japanese martial arts from Andy and Marcus and traditional Thai dancing by Namtip Nilawong who survived from the Tsunami in Thailand in 2004. Woofing experience story by Keefe, A story of help establish Japan's Daily farming by Mr. Marlowe Nelson and HanagasaOndo (Japanese festival dance) By Ms. Maki Ikehata! Wow, are we really in Viroqua!


アクティビティーでは日本へみんなで千羽鶴を折ろうという事で、Our goal was to make 1000 Cranes! It was the first time most people had ever made a crane but now they are all masters of the origami crane!!
初めて鶴を作る人がほとんどだったけど、みんな協力してくれました!Many people helped. But we still need to make more. Let me know if you are interested in making more!!!
日本の文字にはいつも皆さん興味津々。殆どの方が日本の事をあまり知らないというこの町。今回のイベントでとっても親近感がわいて来た様子でした!People tried to write Kanji (one of our three alphabets)at the Calligraphy corner!
最後はウィスコンシンの地元のバンドの皆さんがボランティアで来てくださいました。スクエアーダンスで盛り上がり、イベント終了。And of course a Wisconsin square dance! The band also did as volunteers, thanks! I heard that all member of the band tried on a Yokata, I have to track down the photo, once I do I'll put it on the blog!!!
後片付けをして家に帰ると既に11時半。初めてチャリティーイベントを企画しましたが、本当に周りの人々に助けられ、かなりの達成感に浸りました!人間一人では出来ない事も周りのサポートによって出来るんですね!今回は食材から、場所、装飾その他、すべて人々からのドネーションなので、通常チャリティーイベントで集まった募金からそういった費用を引いて募金を送るケースが多いのですが、今回は、100%,町の人たちから頂いた募金を日本へ送ります!まだはっきりした金額が出ませんが、今の所T-シャツプロジェクト、募金箱、イベントで約$8,000これにオーガニックバレーが更に倍になるように協力してくださるので、約$16,000 $1=¥82の計算で行くと約130万円ほどです!こんなに小さな町なのに、こんなに集まったなんて!本当に皆さんありがとうございました!
Many people helped us with the cleaning after the event. It was such a great event and we are so thankful for all the people who helped with the event and all the donations. Many people who couldn't come to the event also made donations for Japan as well. It was my first time organizing a fundraising event. so many people helped me and we did it!! Organic Valley, local farmers and local people donated the ingredients for food, many people donated their time and silent auction goods, so we can donate 100% of the money to Japan! We are still waiting on some more donation to come but so far I can tell we raised around $8,000 and Organic valley is promissing to match our funds, so it will be around $16,000 or more! Once we know the exact number, we will announce it! Thanks again for helping and thinking about Japan!!
Since I couldn't take so many photos, if anyone has more photos, I would love to have them! Contact info@thelittlecountryschool.com
Thank you so much!!

2 comments:

Cedarose said...

Wow! Congratulations Keiko and Clovis you put on such a meaningful cultural sharing. I am so grateful for the people who came that they were gifted such a special experience of Japanese culture. Thank you both for doing the many weeks of work to have created this opportunity for people in our community. It looks like it was one of the most well done benefits I have ever seen. Good job! I am so amazed and delighted that you raised $16,000 in our little rural community. What an inspiration for anyone in the world!

Keiko&Clovis said...

Thanks Cedarose! It was wonderful and we are so thankful for all the help from community. You worked for us a lot too. Thank you so much!