Saturday, April 02, 2011

Home Move In Kits for Japan

Our Chapel (Misawa Air Base) is working with CRASH to provide Home Move In kits to families moving from evacuation centers to small apartments. We are starting with one city that has asked for help. I have no idea how many kits we can donate....they'd like 50 a week. Overwhelming, but we'll never know what we can do, if we don't try. The need is great. The center/town will provide families with bedding and food. Many clothes have been donated. The idea is to provide what a Japanese family would deem essential for the first 2 - 4 days in a new place. 


Michael asked me to go buy all that was needed on the economy for a move in kit. This will help tomorrow when he tells others all the details. 


Armed with our list we hit the stores. The toughest thing we ran into was deciding if we had hand soap, shampoo, or toilet cleaner. It also took faith to buy electrical items without being able to read the fine print. We aren't allowed to buy things on base to donate.  The local stores say they can meet our need...I'm not 100% sure they can...but I'm all for giving our local economy our business...and bless families too...win/win. 




We were able to buy almost everything at Sundays. We headed to the 100Yen store for plastic drinking glasses. I would love to know if anyone local finds  plastic plates. We were asked to buy plastic over glass.  



This is sort of like Operation Christmas Child - but we really overshot our box. I'll have to look for something bigger.  I bought most everything at Sundays and got the last really good price on a rice steamer....it came to $238.50.  I'm guessing a kit will cost between $200 (if you don't buy the electric rice steamer and hot pot) and $300 depending on the rice steamer you find. We're hoping some families will be able to give several kits, or maybe several families can go together and buy one kit. As many wives are gone I think I may need to arrange a merry band of shoppers. The chapel cannot accept cash, but they can accept these kits to be delivered. 

The only thing I don't have in our kit yet is the Japanese Bible. I'm working on a source to be able to buy or receive Bibles. I even translated the list to Japanese for us to tape on the outside of the kits as they're donated.  I'm begging to be allowed to be one of the drivers when these are delivered. I think I excel at adventurous Road Trips. 

Interested in what has been requested (sorry the formatting will wrap)?

Item                             Quantity                      Notes
Rice cooker                 1                                  electric, small
Rice ladle                    1                                  usually included with new rice cookers
Hot pot                        1                                  electric
Fry pan                        1                                             
Cooking pot                  1                                  medium size               
Plastic cutting board      1 small
Spatula                         1
Ladle                           1
Kitchen Knife               1
Rubber gloves              1 pair                           for washing dishes, etc.          
Plates                          3
Rice Bowls                  3
Drinking glasses           3                                  Japanese prefer small sizes
Tea or coffee cups       3                                 
Chop sticks                  3 sets
Soup spoons                3
Long chop sticks         1 set                             for cooking
Hand soap                  1 bar
Dishwashing soap       1 bottle
Laundry soap              1 box (small)  
Shampoo                    1 bottle                                   
Kleenex                     1 box
Toilet paper                2 rolls
House slippers             3 pairs
Toilet slippers              1 pair
Kitchen sponge            1
Kitchen towels             2 small
Bath towels                  3 medium
Cleaning cloths             1 small package
Clothesline                   1  about 5-6 feet long
Japanese Bible            1                                  

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

5 comments:

Mi KAY lah said...

I wonder, could we paypal money to you and let you shop for a kit for us? We would love to help... It wouldn't be like donating to the chapel, it'd be more like a favor for a friend :)
Becky

Ev said...

Is there a way out of country people can donate to help purchase these?

becky.onelittle said...

Umm I realized I sent that other comment under Micaela's log in- didn't want you to wonder- It's me! Becky, again

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

I cannot accept funds or ask for them or advertise for them on behalf of the chapel.....

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

I now have details on how friends who ASK can help. I'll email you both.