Media Releases

University of Toronto students host Japan relief event with informed speakers and Japanese performers

March 24, 2011

TORONTO, ON – To help Cana­di­ans chan­nel effec­tive sup­port and raise need­ed funds, the OISE/UT and Woodsworth com­mu­ni­ties have gath­ered Red Cross, gov­ern­ment and eye­wit­ness experts to update the relief efforts. After­wards, Japan­ese per­form­ers will show­case their dance, music and art.
The event, with a sug­gest­ed min­i­mum dona­tion of $5, also fea­tures a silent auc­tion to raise funds for the Japan­ese Red Cross and Ashina­ga (www.ashinaga.org/e/), a Japan­ese-based char­i­ty ded­i­cat­ed to edu­ca­tion for dis­placed and trau­ma­tized chil­dren in Japan.

What:
•    OISE/UT Woodsworth stu­dent-dri­ven Japan Earth­quake & Tsuna­mi Relief Event to help the com­mu­ni­ty orga­nize a relief response.
•    Fea­tures speak­ers, per­form­ers and a silent auc­tion of Japan­ese arts and crafts to raise funds for the Red Cross and Ashina­ga.

When: Thurs. March 31, 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm (Remarks from 7 to 8 pm, each talk fol­lowed by a brief Q&A ses­sion.)

Where: Kruger Hall, Woodsworth Col­lege, 119 St. George St.

Speak­ers:
•    Mr. Masaya Otsu­ka, Direc­tor Japan Infor­ma­tion Cen­tre, Con­sul, Con­sulate Gen­er­al of Japan
•    Mr. John Saun­ders, Direc­tor of Dis­as­ter Man­age­ment in Ontario, Red Cross (exper­tise in the Japan­ese sit­u­a­tion)
•    Ms. Kristin Kobayashi, eye­wit­ness to the Japan­ese earth­quake, artist and com­mu­ni­ty activist.
(Note: Mr. John Saun­ders and Kristin Kobayashi will be avail­able for one-on-one inter­views fol­low­ing the for­mal pre­sen­ta­tion.)

For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact:
David Gold­berg, Event Co-ordi­na­tor. d.goldberg@utoronto.ca, cell: 416–357-1172