As many of you know, on Friday, March 11, 2011, Japan was hit by a 9.0 earthquake, then following the earthquake the coasts were hit with 97 feet tsunami waves. These events killed thousands and also left many homeless and injured. In response to the earthquake, many have offered help including President Obama, who is promising support to the stricken country. Unfortunately, Japan needs more than our support, and as a WVU student, you are probably thinking there is little you can do to help, but that isn’t true. Here are 5 easy ways you can help the people of Japan get back on their feet.
1. The Red Cross is taking donations for Japan, and one easy way to help out is by texting “Red Cross” to 90999 and donating $10 to the fund or visiting http://redcross.org. This is a great quick way to help Japan if you don’t have a lot of free time because you can send a quick text from your phone.
2. Since thousands of houses and supplies were wiped out with the tsunamis that hit Japan, another way you can help would be by donating a shelterbox. Shelterbox is an organization dedicated to giving aid when disaster strikes. These boxes are filled with supplies such as waterproof tents, a multi-fuel stove, basic tool kit, warm sleeping bags and much more! You can find out how to get a shelterbox to Japan by visiting the site http://shelterbox.org.
3. A very simple way to help out here on campus is by participating in the WVU student Japan Tsunami Relief Fundraiser and purchasing a $20 limited edition Japan disaster relief t-shirt. All proceeds will go to the American Red Cross to benefit the relief efforts. Click on the link below to get your t-shirt today!
http://www.collegebudget.com/beta/test-city/deal/$20-for-limited-edition-japan-disaster-relief-t-shirt-%28all-proceeds-to-american-red-cross%29-1.
4. For all you Lady Gaga fans, you can follow in her footsteps as she has already gotten involved in helping Japan and has already raised $250,000 on her website to support relief efforts! You can help raise more money but buying a $5 wristband that says “We love Japan.” Wristbands can be purchased on her website, and there is an additional box if you would like to donate more money.
5. Finally, perhaps one of the easiest ways to help the people of Japan would be to clean out your closets and donate any clothes you don’t need anymore. These people lost everything – including their clothes, so I’m sure any donations would be appreciated. According to http://instyle.com, in the near future all fast retailing owned stores would house donation boxes where customers can drop off used garments, giving us plenty of time to gather some old clothes that the people of Japan could benefit from. Find out which stores to drop them off at In Style’s website!
Getting Japan back to normal is going to be hard but that doesn’t mean helping them can’t be the opposite! With these 5 steps anyone can join in to help the people who need our help now more than ever.