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Lawson Students, Staff Collect Funds For Earthquake, Tsunami Victims in Japan
Julie Mazar, a third-grade teacher at Lawson Elementary School, in the Hazelwood School District, spent a summer in Japan in 2005 as a Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar, teaching English to students there.
She stayed in Kesenumma, a small town on the country’s Pacific coast, which was directly affected by the March 11 natural disasters. Mazar said one-third of the town washed away in the tsunami that followed the earthquake and another one-third burned down due to fires.
“I have not been able to contact my host family, but they are not listed as missing,” Mazar said. “I am hoping it is just because electronic communication is just not an option for them. The junior high I visited is now serving as a shelter for 1,000 people, but the elementary school was completely destroyed. I do have word that the children were evacuated in time.”
She talked with some teachers she traveled with and the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Program administrators.
They told her about an organization called Peacewinds (http://www.peace-winds.org/en/) that has members on the ground in Kesennuma. Mazar, along with help from Lawson’s Student Council, has come up with a two-part plan for Lawson students and staff to donate money to Peacewinds from Wednesday, March 30 to Friday, April 8.
During the week of March 28, Mazar will create a short slide presentation of pictures of Japanese schools and children so that students can see what Japan and Kesennuma were like before the earthquake. Each teacher in the building will show the slides to their classes. Students can order origami-grams, paper-folded shirts, to be delivered to their friends in a similar fashion to candygrams. Each origami-gram will contain the origami, instructions for creating more origami, and who sent it. Origami-grams will be sold for $.50 each. They will be delivered during the week of April 4.
Also during the week of April 4, classes will compete in “Change for Japan.” Each classroom will have a Japanese decorated jar and classes will compete to bring in the most quarters, dimes and nickels. As a reward, Mazar will visit the class that brings in the most quarters and give them an interactive 40-minute guest culture lesson that includes photos of Japanese schools. She will teach them about Japanese crafts, share Japanese treats, and give the students chopsticks. She will repeat this lesson with the class that brings in the most dimes to donate. The class that gives the most nickels will receive pairs of chopsticks.
