volunteerAKITA

Carnival in Rikuzentakata Update!

volunteerakita — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:38:25 +0000

We have an important update regarding the carnival. We are happy to announce that we will be working with a group of Japanese university students who are from the Rikuzentakata area. They ran an event last year called “Wakodosai”. Here is their website:

http://wakoudo.web.fc2.com/index.html

The city encouraged our two groups to work together to organize a super fantastic carnival this year. With their experience and our international can-do spirit, we hope we can make the vision of our carnival a complete success.

Due to our two groups working together, the city has moved the carnival to:

Saturday, August 17^th, 2013

We think this is actually a better date and doesn’t conflict with as many events. We hope the new date still works for everyone.

Other information about the carnival:

-The carnival will be held at Takata Elementary school. The principal has graciously allowed us the use of the grounds and the gym!
-We have some confirmed musical acts for the carnival, including some local talent from Akita!
-Monty Dickson’s sister has offered her full support and hopes to attend the carnival as well!
-We have a Facebook Page! “Carnival in Rikuzentakata” Please join and use it as a forum to discuss booths and ideas for the carnival!

As always, you can find up-to-date information on the website and Facebook page, Carnival in Rikuzentakata.

Mark your calenders, we can’t wait to bring you more information soon!

Jon and KK

Carnival in Rikuzentakta – Booth ideas

volunteerakita — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 12:54:34 +0000

For our upcoming carnival event, you might be wondering how you can volunteer. We want to run a variety of booths and activities. We’ve sent out a brainstorming call for ideas, so here is a compiled list of them all. This list is not finalized, if you have any other ideas for the carnival, please get in touch with us. If you see something on the list you really want to be a part of, let us know!

Carnival Games

-Water bucket drop

-Balloon Darts

-Plinko

-Ring Toss

-Ateji for “Carnival” to be used in following Rikuzentakata carnivals.

-Magic and balloon animals

-Cornhole/Bags

-Apple bobbing

-Water Balloon toss/Egg Toss

-Shuffleboard

-Fishing over curtain for a prize

Anyone can participate races

- three legged

- wheel barrow

- tray race

- egg spoon race

Anyone can participate events/field games

- scavenger hunt

- octopus

- penalty kick shoot out

- mini-sticks

- Easter egg hunt

We also would like to have food stalls with items that are commonly found/served in our home countries.

For example:

- Sugar cookie decorating/no bake cookies

- English tea time

- BBQ

- Candy apples

- (cup)Cake walk

Live music

We’d love to provide live entertainment on a stage at the carnival, further details to follow.

There is so much we can do with this event, keep thinking about it, and volunteerAKITA hopes you will be there with us in August!

- Jon

Rikuzentakata Carnival Event

volunteerakita — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 14:24:41 +0000

VolunteerAKITA is proud to announce a joint event with the city of Rikuzentakata!

With the immediate dangers past, the needs of the survivors have changed. While many people feel that they have to start supporting themselves financially, it doesn’t mean we cannot still give them support to continue moving forward. We need to remind the people that have survived the March 11 disaster that they are not forgotten and that we still care about their situation.

With this in mind, we have partnered with Rikuzentakata, Iwate in cooperation with the mayor, city hall and the citizens, to organize a carnival style event where everyone can get together and enjoy themselves. We want booths and stalls with events ranging from carnival games to balloon animals, face painting to face stuffing. The individual booth ideas are up to us, the volunteers.

This is a chance to give back to the community, to get back to the coastal cities and volunteer our time and show them support.

Time and location-

The event will take place in Rikuzentakata city on August 31, 2013 (Saturday). The location within the city hasn’t been determined yet, as they need to know the number of participants in order to reserve a big enough location.

What we need right now-

We need volunteers who are willing to commit their time to this event. We know it is far in the future, but in order to make the event a success this time and for many times to come, we have to start planning now.

If you are interested but don’t know if you can commit yet, please let us know as we need to tell the city our numbers ASAP, and would rather overestimate than underestimate.

Even if you can’t make it to the event, we can still use your help! Please send in your ideas for booths. The more ideas we have the more memorable we can make the day.

We can also use donations, be it monetary or supplies. Donation details have yet to be finalized but please stay tuned for more information.

How you can donate-

Please donate your time and ideas to our cause. Send us an email with your contact information if you want to participate and/or any ideas you have for the event.

Timeline-

While the event date is August 31, 2013, there is much to do right now. We need a head count of participating volunteers so the city can reserve an appropriate size space. We also need to include ideas for booths/stalls in a report to the city so they can determine what resources they will need to provide. We want to send them this report as soon as we can, so please contact us now!

If you are interested in more information about the city of Rikuzentakata, the mayor, or this project, please look at the following links.

Rikuzentakata’s Facebook page

About Mayor Futoshi Toba

As always, you can look here for the latest information Rikuzentakata Carnival Event

Thank you very much!!

Jon and KK

Co-directors of volunteerAKITA

Sanboen Akita Welcome Party, September 1st, 2012

volunteerakita — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 02:14:52 +0000

Akita welcomed 30 new JETs to the prefecture and held the annual Welcome Party to celebrate their arrival. Sanboen Cabin broke its previous attendance record, with the highest number now topping at 87 fantastic people. Individual performers, DJs, and the ALT Super Band played an assortment of music that kept everyone dancing late into the night. Of course, the taco rice was also a highlight, with rice cookers decorating the cabin with their pearlescent glow. We raised ￥170,000, another new record for the vA events!

Our biggest thanks to Alex, Clarissa, and the kitchen crew for working so hard on the amazing taco rice, Todd for another outstanding evening of alcohol and bartender services, and to Wil for planning another amazing event. Also, a huge thanks to our excellent performers and DJs!

The next event will be hosted by AAJ, another volunteer group in Akita that is raising money to build a library in Laos. We look forward to seeing you all there!

- KK and Jon

Akita Goodbye Party at Sanboen Cabin

volunteerakita — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 09:35:32 +0000

In the beginning of July, vA held a farewell party at the Sanboen Cabin in Honjo. A record number of people attended the amazing event (over 80!!), and enjoyed a night of live performances, fantastic decorations, and the most delicious taco rice.

We at vA would like to send many, many thanks to all the everyone who contributed and attended!! Our thanks to Anne for the delicious taco rice, Todd for the ALT bar and Wil, who organized such a wonderful event. We were able to raise ￥145,190 and all proceeds went directly into the vA scholarship fund. We are already looking forward to the next event, which will be a welcome party for all the new ALTs to Akita. Can’t wait to see you all there!!