Steele family raises $2,000 for disaster relief in Japan

photo Etsuko, Yuji and Masaki Steele are adding the nearly $2,000 raised through coin drives at the children's schools to the Chattanooga Japanese Community Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund, to be sent to the Japanese Red Cross through the Consulate-General in Japan. Photo by Emily Crisman

The Steele family, which moved to Signal Mountain from Japan 12 years ago, has raised nearly $2,000 for the Chattanooga Japanese Community Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.

"Around 30 Japanese families in Chattanooga decided we should do something for Japan," said Etsuko Steele.

Steele and her sons Masaki, 7, and Yuji, 5, made origami cranes to give to students who made donations at the coin drives they held at Thrasher Elementary, where Masaki attends, and Yuji's preschool, Signal Mountain Presbyterian Day School.

The Steeles raised $1,368.33 through the coin drive at Thrasher, and collected $200 in just two hours through another drive at UTC.

"One first-grader said, 'I want to donate for Japan, but didn't bring any coins,' and that just touched my heart," said Steele, whose brother-in-law lives 30 miles from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima.

Steele said her sister and their children moved back to her hometown of Osaka after their condo was destroyed in another earthquake about a month ago.

"So many people are still in shelters and having trouble, so I'm really appreciative of everyone's support of Japan," she said.

Other schools where drives and fundraisers were held by other families in the Japanese community include Hixson Middle, St. Peter's Episcopal, Ganns Middle Valley Elementary, McCallie and Bright.

The group also held a yard sale in Hixson, where the majority of the families live, raising $1,676.61.

The total of around $7,000 collected by the city's Japanese community was sent to the Consulate-General of Japan in Nashville, a branch of the Japanese Embassy, to be mailed to the Japanese Red Cross.

The $398.47 collected at SMPDS will go to the Rev. Franklin Graham's ministry The Samaritan's Purse, for which the church was already collecting funds for disaster relief in Japan.

GET INVOLVED

To make a donation, send checks to Consulate-General of Japan at Nashville, 1801 West End Ave., Suite 900, Nashville, Tenn. 37203.

Checks should be made payable to Japan Consulate Relief Fund or Consulate-General of Japan and should say, "Earthquake Aid" in the memo line as well as on the outside of the envelope. All donations are sent directly to the Japanese Red Cross Society and are not considered tax-deductible by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

Upcoming Events