Japanese relief raffles run red hot
From L: Ryoko Takahashi, Akiko Minematsu,Naoko Heraud, and Chieko Singer with some of the raffle prizes they organised to support people affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
The 10 Japanese women in Golden Bay, Chieko Singer, Naoko Heraud, Akiko Minematsu, Ryoko Takahashi, Chizuko Hoy, Tomoko Dodson, Miyuki McGarvey, Yuriko Goetz, Fumiko Green and Hiromi Ledger wasted no time when they heard of the catastrophic earthquake, tsunami and related events in their homeland. It has since become clear that thousands of people were killed in the tragedy and about 250,000 have been made homeless.
“We get together quite regularly anyway,” says Ryoko. “We decided that we wanted to do something because we are far from home and so many people are suffering.”
The women decided to run some raffles, and quickly assembled the prizes. Two raffles have hampers for prizes—one is a basket of Japanese goodies while the other is for a basket of Kiwi-style goodies. The prize in the third raffle is an award-winning quilt designed and made by Chizuko.
Another raffle proving very popular has a unique prize—a Japanese meal that will be prepared for the winner by four of the women. Local installer Andrew Smith has also donated Freeview software and hardware, including installation, for the final raffle. This is worth about $500.
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Golden Bay people are able to simply donate to the cause if they do not want to buy raffle tickets. The popularity of the raffles meant that the women were almost too busy selling tickets to pose for a photo or talk when The GB Weekly called by.
The women are also giving away beautiful origami cranes to anyone who wants one. Ryoko explains that, traditionally, this kind of gift was believed to bring good luck and happiness to the recipient.
“Even though Golden Bay is such a small place, we’ve had lots of support,” she says. “Community organisations often ask for help, but people have been very generous.”
Tickets will be on sale today (Friday) at the Village Green market and tomorrow at Fresh Choice. The women will draw their raffles by the middle of April and then forward the proceeds to the New Zealand Red Cross, which is collecting money on behalf of the Red Cross in Japan.
Neil Wilson
