Snowballing in May- May 27

The basic set.

Two pallets of 1x4s weighs 622 kg.(1370 pounds) and makes 72 sets.

Sometimes you hit it right.

Last week I had the help of short-termer Paul Van Den Dool, and former JET program teacher Jacob Witt in filling the avalanche of orders for chair and table sets. The shelter in Rikuzen Takada Number One Junior High School got up a list of 90 names before I asked for a temporary halt so we could try to catch up. To get an idea of the scale of this, a pallet of 6 foot long 1x4s has 216 pieces. It is 2 and a half feet high, and 3 feet wide. It costs $480, and makes 36 tables. With the hardware added, each table and set chair comes to about $18.00. So, you get an idea of the logistics of buying the lumber (if the store has enough- I have ordered 2 pallets in Ofunato for the next trip). So far it looks like finances will be available, which is a matter for praise. The three of us managed 30 completed sets, and 10 more pre-fabbed for the residents to assemble. One of them is a carpenter; he was glad to get his hands on the tool set we lent them and go to work.

Tool sets will be important to this project. A basic set has hand tools, an electric drill/driver, and an electric saw. Buying the cheapest electric tools (adequate for this light lumber) enables us to put a set together for about $170. Many people in shelters have no job. A few are willing, even eager to do something for themselves. They will not make all the sets needed, but they can contribute considerably to the effort if we supply them with the means. CRASH Japan has a shed available in Touno, an hour from the coast, and wants to help with production. As there is more lumber available there, it will be a help. A friend showed a table I gave here to shelters in Yamada, 90 minutes north of Ofunato. She ended up with 40 orders (to start) and is getting them together with her church in Hirosaki. Christians in Kessenuma, 90 minutes south of Ofunato, have asked me to introduce the program there.

Yikes.

The first week, I had 10 orders. I never expected the project to snowball like this. It is daunting. The Junior High wanted 90; another shelter in a home for the elderly has just asked for 72 tables and 16 chairs. It's a good thing I didn't visit any more shelters! Adding the Sports Dome (a mere 7 units requested), that makes only 3 of 88 shelters in the city of Rikuzen Takada. It had a population of 23,000 before the tsunami; currently 3000 are still in shelters, and 12,000 commute there for meals. Many of the latter have recently moved into temporary housing. Ofunato, with a pre-3/11 population of 40,000, has "only" 3000 in shelters, and another 3000 commuting.

But, this can happen. Shelter residents have almost no furniture; they have been living on the floor for 2 months. Many are now moving to temporary housing. Although they will be provided with appliances, they don't know what to do about furniture. Obviously they can't have a lot, as the units are very small. However, if they have access to tools and materials, they can improvise. Hopefully we can take up this opportunity and provide a real service to shelter residents.

Pray, too, that we will have openings to give them the Good News. Certainly they need some good news for a change! But, many people display a strong resistance to religious activity. Some of these people in a precarious emotional state; we need to be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves".

May we be so.

3/11- it's not over yet.