ONE YEAR LATER: SHAKEN BUT NEVER BROKEN
BC-JERF One Year Anniversary Benefit Concert on MARCH 11, 2012
Concert Director: Yoriko Gillard
On March 11th, 2012, people all over the world got together to grieve for victims of Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. At the same time, many of us here in Vancouver gathered to send a sincere message, “Kizuna: a true connection of humanity,” from Canada to Japan through our benefit concert: One Year Later: Shaken but Never Broken. It was held at the Nikkei Centre in Burnaby, BC and one of our generous sponsors.
The event consisted of a music concert, silent auction, “365days” a Japan Love project-photo exhibit, Canada Shiatsu Society Service, t-shirts and other merchandise for sale, and video screening of Dr. Kuwayama’s work (Chikyu no Stage). We experienced the passionate performances of Yuaikai Ryukyu Taiko, JaVan, Sakura Singers, Yayoi Hirano & Chieko Konishi, Cattleya Chorus, Takeo Yamashiro, Minoru Yamamoto, Yuriko Nariya, Kozue Matsumoto, Baggy Bootz and Chibi Taiko. There were also moving speeches shared during the concert by Consul General Hideki Ito and Linda Ohama, who has been working closely in Japan for the past year.
Thanks to the dedicated work of BC-JERF organizing committee and generous help of the volunteers, One Year Later: Shaken but Never Broken was a huge success with kind support received from over – 400 guests, 130 performers, 30 auction donors and 60 sponsors/volunteers from various professions and organizations around BC. In the end of the day, we raised a total of $13,925.08. The benefit concert ticket sales were: $5,565, silent auction sales: $3,125, merchandise sales: $1,418, Canada Shiatsu Society donations: $2,217, “365days”Japan Love Project donations: $600.08, and cash donations: $1000. This number exceeded our original goal of $10,000-$12,000 and we are very happy with this result!
BC-JERF funds raised go directly to “Chikyuu no Stage/Stage-Earth” and “Ashinaga Ikueikai” while funds raised by the Canada Shiatsu Society will support ”Fukushima Donation for Orphans affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake”
It is hard to believe how much support people of Tohoku still require to have a normal daily life after a year has passed and we, BC-JERF, would like to continuously support them as “SAKURA” cherry blossoms bloom in every spring in Japan. I believe this is how we can build a strong connection between Canada and Japan, which we can refer to as: “kokoro no Kizuna: heart to heart connection”.
Lastly, on behalf of the BC-JERF organizing committee and as the benefit concert director, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all the people who made this concert possible and helped to raise funds and awareness for the Tohoku people and Japan’s fast recovery.
心より感謝しています。
Thank you very much!
