Socks for Japan

[Steel_Magnolia]

Some of you may know financial guru Jason Kelly. Because he lives in Sano Japan, he is already on a list of accepted volunteers to help people in the area of the devastating earthquake and tsunami. And he's asking for socks. Yes, socks.

In Mr. Kelly's words: "All human beings are comforted by a fresh, clean pair of socks. Other advantages socks offer this operation: their sizes are easy, they don’t break, people need lots of them in disastrous times without running water, people can keep them forever and remember that somebody from far away cared. Please do not send any other items of clothing, food, etc. Just socks, but go ahead and choose nice ones that will brighten somebody’s day."

Other guidelines he requests:

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Additional details can be found at

http://jasonkelly.com/helpjapan/

And may I add my thank you to Mr. Kelly's appreciation for your help.

Ann

 

[Buster]

Fantastic idea..thanks for sharing this Ann

 

[law87]

socks? why socks? lol i donate to red cross. incase anyone interested

 

[jpcavin]

Regular socks or tabi socks? :laugh:

 

[FAB1]

Regular socks or tabi socks? :laugh:

mmm...Im sure they arent going to be picky.

 

[jpcavin]

mmm...Im sure they arent going to be picky.

I'm sure they're not. I already got a package ready to go. Will be dropping it off at the base post office today.

 

[Steel_Magnolia]

The postscript to Jason Kelly's regular weekly financial letter:

"In contrast to the protests of disaster-aid professionals who say direct assistance is unnecessary and inefficient, people on the ground in Japan have heard victims request socks. They're on the news, their words are brought back in stories by people who've been to the shelters, their sock-less situation is nearly common knowledge. Almost everybody who sees what we're doing wants to help, and people often cry when they see boxes overflowing with socks sent from around the world, notes of love attached.

It raises an interesting question for those of us who are used to maximizing efficiency and finding economic rationality in all things. Let's say it's cheaper to get a pair of clean socks to somebody in need via the Red Cross or other large NGO than it is via individual contributions bought at a store and shipped via airmail. Should our conclusion be that in order to achieve maximum net benefit, all extra cash should be channeled into NGO funding? Yes, the experts tell us.

Guess who tells us no? The little girl sitting barefoot at the shelter right now as you read this, the one who fled home in her slippers as the ground shook and the waves crashed, and the one who has no idea what happened to her slippers in the chaos that ensued. Would you look at her muddy, cold feet, take her hand and tell her, "Hold on, honey, the most efficient method of getting clean socks to you will arrive any day now. Just you wait." Probably not. Like me, you'd reach into your wallet that very second and buy her a pair of socks, and one for the girl next to her, and the boy behind her, and the parents beside him.

That's what's going on here, and people on the front lines get it. They don't need a report to understand that sometimes costs aren't top priority. Even the most efficient operation, the best funded of them out there, can't get to everybody. In that sense, it's not so efficient after all. This is not to criticize the noble efforts of the NGOs, but to point out that like the rest of us trying to help, they can only do so much. To attack our less financially efficient method of delivering clean socks ignores the one way that it is efficient: faster and more direct delivery to those in need. It comes down to the question of who has socks right here right now? The answer is Socks for Japan."


Additional details can be found at

http://jasonkelly.com/helpjapan/

 

[Steel_Magnolia]

Please read this excerpt from a recent email. Jason Kelly reporting on one of his delivery trips. "Socks for Japan"

"...With map in hand and shelters prioritized by need, we set out through town. Our first stop was an athletic center that had been hastily converted into housing for the recently homeless. Heaps of donated clothing lay around the gymnasium, as we expected to find, but there was not a sock among them. We carried in our boxes, arranged them by category, and announced that we'd come to distribute new socks and care letters from around the world.

"A charge of excitement rose up from the sad, stationary groups of people huddled on mats or curled up under blankets. They came over. "For us?" one asked. "Finally, socks!" another cried out, and that word spread quickly through the ranks and people began pouring in from side entrances and doorways we hadn't previously noticed.

I wasn't sure at first how to behave. The situation seemed to demand keeping a serious face and wishing everybody well in grave battlefield tones, but that's not what these people needed. They needed joy, something colorful, some fun in an otherwise long day at a shelter with an unknown future ahead of them. Cheerful it would be, I concluded, smile in place as we explained where the socks came from and answered cute questions about how we could have so many friends, and when the last time was that I saw Makiko, one of our donors in New York City who works hard on our care letter translation page. Her photo and letter were wrapped around pairs of socks, so several people saw them and commented.

"I've never met her, actually," I replied to bewildered looks. "We only know about each other because of this program." They wanted me to tell her that they love her socks. I wrote her the next day, "I saw your photo many times yesterday in Ibaraki, from boxes to hands and then carefully folded as a souvenir by people who were already wearing the socks you sent. It was very touching, and I thought you'd like to know about it. I can't thank you enough." She replied, "What a heartwarming anecdote. I'm deeply touched. There is nothing more poignant than to hear that the people were already wearing the socks."

"People wanted to share their stories. They told me how they'd run barefoot or in socks from their houses to escape the tsunami, which is understandable in Japan because nobody wears shoes at home. This is one reason we chose socks as our item of care.... "

This is Ann again. If you would like to help, details can be found at

http://jasonkelly.com/helpjapan/