George Green's School

Rae's mum Sarah set us up to go into George Green's School in Tower Hamlets for a little while during their parents' evening.

cindy folds her winged box

Cindy with her creation

We met some lovely people and collected £10.60 which I will put on the Just Giving page now. Thanks George Greens.

Hackney City Farm

Jennifer and I both contacted, independently, the wonderful Hackney City Farm about doing something for Japan through Origami and they put us in touch with each other. She borrowed the banner and made some origami out of newspaper as part of a recycle initiative at the Farm.

There were several other stalls there collecting for Japan relief, selling bric a brac, secondhand books and clothes as well as these badges which we liked:

which means GanbareGanbare Tohoku. Ganbare Nippon.’ Which means ‘Stay Strong Tohoku (the area that was hit by the quake), Stay Strong Japan

Jennifer raised £13 which she put into the Japan Relief box on Tomoko's stall. I shall add it to the offline giving part of the Just Giving page so we can see it - more money raised through origami.

Tom and Emma get folding

Tom and Emma got the bug on Saturday too, setting up an Origami4tsunami stall at Rushmore primary school market.

They stuck to a few designs and printed off the instructions.

Tom with cat. I love the banner behind them.

This is one of the dads who's family come from near to the nuclear power plant (Fukushima Daiichi I presume) in Japan, getting his hands around a crane

Emma says that the origami went down really well and that they raised £65 which is fantastic. They have given the money to the Japanese Red Cross via the Just Giving page (coded by the Red Cross so that the money goes to their Japan appeal) which is here: http://www.justgiving.com/origami4tsunami.

Congratulations Tom and Emma!

Origami 4 Tsunami in Dublin

Friday morning at Dalkey School Project in Dublin began with a difference as children and parents gathered to fold paper cranes to show our support for the people of Japan.

One week had passed since the natural disaster and we wanted to show our support for all of those struggling to rebuild their lives! Although we discovered that folding origami cranes is a little challenging, we persevered and we now have around 300 beautiful cranes hanging in our lobby with the number growing daily as inspired children, parents and grandparents continue to contribute to our display.

Why cranes? Cranes are sacred creatures in Japanese culture. According to ancient legend anyone who folds 1000 origami cranes will be granted a wish. We are going to upload a photograph of our cranes to dosomething.org who are hoping to collect 100 000 cranes to represent 100 wishes for relief and healing for all of those affected by this tragic natural disaster.

We managed to raise almost 400 euros and will be donating this to the Japanese Red Cross!

Origami4tsunami gets street wise!

On Saturday 19th March we had our first origami4tsunami street event, where we set up tables in our street in Hackney and made origami. Loads and loads of Origami. We started at about 12.30pm and finished off at around 4.30.

Rae (8) stopped people walking down the street and explained what we were doing. , which As did Kesia (6), though some people she spoke to thought we were collecting for the "Japanese Salami".

setting up

getting busier

 We developed a nice line in patter: "we have Origami from the traditional to the conceptual".

traditional and conceptual...

This being Dalston the conceptual did really well with loads of people taking away Kesia's work (above on the left). We also taught people to make things which they took away with them.

Satisfied donators taking home their/our creations:

 Nicole and her "dog takes boat"

Dave and a penguin made by Jonjo

Marguerita and a cat made by David and Simon

Heads were down all round. A veritable hive of industry.

 

As Jonjo put it the day was "brilliant". Thank you, thank you to everyone who stopped and talked to us, folded with us, and donated their pennies and pounds.

We made two hundred and fifty-one pounds and seventy-four pence which I will give to the Japanese Red Cross tomorrow through the Just Giving page (see the link on the right).

lotus flowers

We are going to put a table outside the house on Saturday afternoon and set up our stall, with kids making Origami and a bucket for the pennies with a Red Cross label pasted over it.  Maybe we should float a lotus flower in a bowl of water. They do float, allegedly.  The link for instructions on how to make these lotus flowers is here:http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-lotus.html  though if you're new to Origami maybe start with some of the things on here: http://en.origami-club.com/

How will we know how much we raise?

If you raise money and give it direct to your national Red Cross Tsunami appeal (which goes direct to the Japanese Red Cross) then let us know through a comment on this page.  Or you can give your money raised through this Just Giving page: http://www.justgiving.com/origami4tsunami

Can you get your school/youth group to do an Origami table or an Origami sale? Let us know!

Spread the word

 Kids can raise money for the Japanese Red Cross Tsunami relief effort through Origami.





Learn to make cute little birds, animals and stuff and sell these creations to the adults around you, or sell your Origami instruction if you know how to make stuff already, or just make up squares of paper and sell those for pennies. Then collect all those pennies together and give them to the British Red Cross, or the Red Cross/ Red Crescent where you live, who will give it to the Japanese Red Cross or you can donate through this page if you like: http://www.justgiving.com/origami4tsunami

What other ways can you think of to raise money through Origami?  Let us know what your ideas are and we will share ours.

Happy folding...