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NYdV@Media list of articles
Contact Noriko Hino, Executive Director for interview request at
noriko@nydevolunteer.org or 212-932-7208
"Japanese Spa Day"
2008/12 Reuters published
"From Asia To Astoria"
2003/3/2 Newsday published
"NY de Volunteer"
2003/2/ JETAA.NY Newsletter published
2003/1/1 The Yomiuri America published
"New York Volunteer Community
Calls out to interested parties and shares in volunteerwork
Ms Noriko Hino, NY de Volunteer"
New York de Volunteer is a Volunteer Community that seeks out, plans, and exchanges information on volunteerwork that one can engage in freely in New York. We provide a place for people having difficulty looking for his/her first volunteerwork, and people looking for others to volunteer with to meet and exchange information, and those who get together work on various volunteerworks.
What led to the founding of this orgnisation was our participation in Spring Cleanup Day, a public parks beautification volunteerwork of NY Cares, held on May 4th, 2002. When we called out on various media such as internet bulletinboards and free Japanese publications, there were more than 1000 enquiries, and we felt a strong big, demand for works of this kind.
We had 36 participants on the day of event. It became one fantastic day where we were able to share the joy of working together to achieve a goal. Requests to continue creating venues to provide many people with opportunities to do volunteerwork reached great proportions, and a number of staffs launched NY de Volunteer.
Works are called Volunteerwork Expedition and Volunteerwork Informations Exchange. Firstly, in Volunteerwork Expedition, we look for volunteerworks one can freely take part in in New York, and participate in them together with others. The proposer becomes the Expedition Leader and calls out for Expedition Staffs, and the staffs do the support work for the preparations and operation methods. To date we have engaged in volunteerwork that could not be realised by just one person but were realised by involving others, such as a Toro-nagashi ceremony (the sending of paperboats down a river to respect those who have passed and make peaceful wishes) and the first Bon ceremony (annual Japanese ceremony to care for those who have passed away) for those were taken away by 9/11, a planting of 400 chrysanthemums at Pier 4 in Brooklyn, and wall painting and school grounds cleanup at public schools.
Moreover, in Volunteerwork Informations Exchange, we provide on the internet information on volunteerworks, and via mailing lists and bulletinboards we exchange information. In addition, in Cafe de Volunteer we actually meet others and find buddies and exchange information. After doing volunteerwork, we share with others our experience.
To date, as of October 30th, 2002, Volunteerwork Expedition has 340 members, Cafe de Volunteer has 63 members, and the mailing list has 203 members. Not only Japanese people residing in NY but anyone, be it Americans, visitors from Japan, and others, who are in NY the date of an event can participate.
Our mission is to provide to as many people as possible opportunities that lets them know how easy it is to do volunteerwork, to see issues and problems that you had thought were problems of others as an issue or problem concerning you, to expand a circle of people who share the same feeling on helping out others, and to contribute to making a better society.
It seems some think volunteerwork is something different and special. When there is someone before you who needs help, we do what we can. If we are in need of help, we ask for help. Such natural acts of help is what NY de Volunteer realises.
We plan to convert soon to a not-for-profit organisation (NPO), develop chapters, like Tokyo de Volunteer. We wish to continue to spread the volunteering spirit that sees no border of race, location, and such. Contact: URL: http://www.NYdeVolunteer.org/
2002/12/6 OCS News published NYdV"Japanese Cultural Hour"
International House (I. House), founded by John D. Rockefeller Jr. in 1924 in the hope that it would nurture the tolerance and friendship among different cultures by providing living quarters and a symbiotic community to the students and interns from all over the world, held an event entitled 'Japanese Cultural Hour' on November, 11th. I. House accommodates about 700 boarders from over 100 countries around the world. The 'Cultural Hour' is a monthly evening event where a group of people from a particular country present their culture. The last 'Japanese Cultural Hour' was held in 1997. This time, it was brought about by the efforts of the volunteers among the Japanese residents (40 all together). There were video presentations of major sight-seeing spots from all over Japan, culinary culture, the latest pop culture, and so on. There also were several musical performances as well; among them were Japanese drum music performance by Teachers College Taiko Society and shamisen (three-string guitar-like Japanese instrument) performance by New York Okinawa Kenjin-Kai (Association of the Okinawans). A crowd of about 300 admired the presentations and performances. The festivity was joyfully concluded with a Japanese round dance called 'Tanko Bushi (Coal Miners' Song)' led by Ms. Misachi Aoki, an instructor at Japanese Folk Dance Institute and indulged by everyone at the event. At the event were ever popular Japanese dishes, including yakisoba and red bean rice cake prepared by some of the I. House residents and the members of a New York based volunteer group called 'New York De Volunteer' and maki-sushi and sake among others donated by restaurants and corporations. A life trustee of I. House, Mr. Herman Rottenberg (right in the picture) said, "This event was a big success because of the particularly fulfilling contents."
2002/11/8 OCS News published NYdV "NY Cares Day"
2002/10/19 International Herald Tribune published
2002/9/27 OCS News published
Challenge Network (Representative: Ms. Keiko Yanase) of Kochi City, a nonprofit organization founded in hopes of spreading the messages of peace through 'Yosakoi Naruko Odori (Yosakoi Naruko-Clapper Dance)' originated in Kochi Prefecture (Prefectural Capital: Kochi City) of Japan, participated in the 'International Cultures Parade' held on September 8th. The parade was organized by New York International Immigrants Foundation for more than one hundred immigrant groups to showcase their cultures. The participants marched on Madison Avenue from 39th Street through 25th Street and showed off their energetic dance.
Suga Kunitomo, a dance instructor and the president of Suga Jazz Dance Studio of Kochi City, who shares the principal objective, was in charge of direction and choreography. On the day of the event, from the top of the lead vehicle, with vigor she cried, "Iiyosa, Koi! (Literal meaning: A good society/world, come!)" hence the designation "Yosakoi" and appealed the world peace. 60 dancers from Japan including a group of 16 from Suga Yosakoi Ren (Suga Yosakoi Team - a group of dancers from Suga Jazz Dance Studio especially organized for Yosakoi Dance) and 40 more participants got together and earnestly rehearsed over and over again until their time to start. Those 40 participants from local areas included New York based dancers, Japanese students, and Japanese families most of whom had found out about the event through the homepage of 'New York De Volunteer', a New York based volunteer group and the supporter of the 'Yosakoi' dance.
This group of dancers, clad uniformly in white haori (kimono coats) and unique make-ups, lively danced through the streets of New York. With wooden clappers called 'Naruko' in both hands, they delightedly pranced through the cheering and applauding onlookers along the streets.
2002/9/10 Kanagawa Shinbun published NYdV "NYC Vigil for Peaceful Tomorrows"
newyork-spot.com published NYdV "YOSAKOI, Japanese Dance for Peace at The Int'l Cultural Parade"
2002/9/5 Yomiuri Shinbun published
Please exit the building immediately."
The building announcement played when I was having my morning coffee. Ms Noriko Hino (34), who was working in a building about 5 km away from the World Trade Center buildings, left the building without any idea of what was happening. People were being evacuated from buildings nearby. "There was a terrorist attack. The next target can be this building." I could not believe what I heard the building superintendent say. I thought, "Subways also can be targets", so I walked all the way home, which took me hour and a half. I was overcome by fear by the event, and did not leave home for a week.
* *
I have lived in New York for nine years. I came to the US to study visual arts at a college, and started to work as a web designer who creates homepages on the internet. It was just around the time when internet became popular. Jobs were aplenty. When I was new to New York, I was surprised when I visited a nearby beach. Plastic bags, empty cans, and corncob remains were found everywhere. Not able to withstand the dirtiness, I started to clean up, and then a young couple laughed at me, and said, "No one's gonna pay you for doing that." I decided on "doing cleanup volunteer work", because I remembered that from my past.
* *
I called out for volunteer participants in May of this year, with the help of a friend, Ms Kazumi Terada (28). The response was big, and there were about hundred respondents, primarily Japanese people. They all said, "I've been thinking that I want to do something, after seeing New Yorkers trying to get back on their feet after 9/11." And in response to that, I created the group, NY de Volunteer (http://www.nydevolunteer.org), and decided to do volunteerwork continuously.
"Terrorist attack and war are too big of a subject, and wouldn't know where to start. Then, I should and want to start with immediate issues, that is, what I can do." Ms Hino came to think in that way soon. The first event was a cleanup of parks in the city. We worked hard for almost five hours, pulling weeds, picking up garbage, and repainting. In July, we participated in Toro-nagashi (the sending of paperboats down a river to respect those who have passed and make peaceful wishes), where we mourned the victims of 9/11. We also held a studygroup where people learned how to ready their hearts as volunteers.
* *
When I look back, I feel I had always been going after "positions that seem fun, positions with high pay". But, after 9/11, I feel my feeling of "wanting to be useful to society" has become stronger. Our objective is to keep it as an approachable group, where anyone would feel welcomed as a volunteer. "We would like to make this into a co-operative where race and nationality do not matter and people can be nice to each other."
2002/8/2 OCS News published NYdV "Floating Lanterns on the River for 9/11 Victims"
Memorial Service For 911 Terrorist Attack Victims
Sponsored by New York Buddhist Church, a memorial service for the Maiden Bon Festival for the victims of last year's terrorist attack was performed in the evening of July 16 to mourn for the deceased. With the prayer for the world peace, 50 Japanese floating lanterns were released into the Hudson River. It was a brainchild of Minister, Rev. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki (4th from the left in the picture) of the church and was brought to fruition in corroboration with such groups as New York De Volunteer, a New York based Japanese volunteer group. However, it was not a smooth ride from the beginning. Since nothing of this kind, the lantern offering on the water, had been done in New York City and hence the involved parties had to go through so many twists and turns in order to acquire the city permit, by the time they received the authorization to carry it out at Hudson River Boathouse of the Pier 26, it was only six days before the proposed date of the event.
Starting at five thirty in the afternoon, about 130 participants, including bereaved families, priests, and volunteers, offered walking-meditaion around the World Trade Center site. Then at Ground Zero, sutra-chanting and incense-offering were dedicated to the victims. After that, they moved on to the Battery Park and at sun-set, there took place a ceremony, facing the Statue of Liberty. At the ceremony, sutra-chanting and music-offering of the Japanese drum music for the deceased were performed. As the sun set, the participants moved up to the Pier 26. There, while the gentle evening breeze comforting them, they quietly released the homemade lanterns with the names of the victims and such personal and wistful messages as, "I hope that one day there will be no more hatred," and "Please rest in peace, the young rescue worker who saved my life!" to the current of the Hudson River.newyork-spot.com published NYdV "Floating Lanterns on the River for 9/11 Victims"
2002/7/23 Nihon Keizai Shinbum published NYdV "Workshop"
An organisation is founded after 9/11
Recently Japanese people residing in New York, where last September there was the 9/11 event, founded a volunteer group with the aim "we would like to deepen relationships with neighbourhoods, on a remorse that we were unable to do anything during the event." Some members involved have experienced the Big Hanshin Earthquake, and this group is underway to plan a mourning event for the victims. And it is also en route to becoming a not-for-profit organisation (NPO) in New York.
This group is called "NY de Volunteer." Approximately forty Japanese people participate who reside longterm in the US for various reasons; some are junior expatriates from companies based in Japan, housewives, trainees, and exchange students. There are members who have also been involved in volunteerwork at the site of the Big Hanshin Earthquake of 1995.
What brought the establishment of this group was when Ms Noriko Hino (34), a member, discussed with Ms Kazumi Terada, who has lived in the US since she was a child, about "wanting to volunteer but did not know how to go about it."
When Ms Terada called out in this May to Japanese people residing in New York about participating in a beautification event sponsored by New York Cares, an American volunteer organisation, approximately forty people showed up.
The group held a study session on volunteerwork at end of June for the first time. And they decided on, amongst other things, to sit in a lecture on volunteerwork. In July, they joined a mourning event planned by a local Buddhist temple to commemorate the first Bon ceremony (annual Japanese ceremony to care for those who have passed away) of 9/11 victims, and performed a Toro-nagashi ceremony (the sending of paperboats down a river to respect those who have passed and make peaceful wishes) in Hudson River. They are at present working on an event on this coming September 11th.
It is said that many young Japanese people who reside in New York, including tourists who stay for extended periods, are discouraged from engaging in volunteerwork for reasons such as "My English is poor" and "I have no friends to volunteer with". Mr Kazuhide Honda, an expatriate of a Japanese company, looking back says, "I felt the strength of society driven by citizens, after seeing the volunteerwork of citizens" when the 9/11 event happened last September.
Some became members of the group upon being shocked big after seeing 9/11 up close and thinking that "I may be next", and "I have done nothing to date for my neighbourhood."
One of the founders, Ms Hiromi Mizota (38), a resident of New York of about two and a half years, is from Kobe originally. She experienced the Big Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. Ms Mizota had told us, "I think it important to think and train regularly on what we can offer when events happen."
2002/5/10日 The Yomiuri America published NYdV"Spring Clean Up Day"
"Japanese
go-better helps volunteers get into the community spirit"
"New
York Premier of 'Yosakoi' Dance on Madison Avenue With Prayer for
World Peace"
"米中枢同時テロから１年"