Thursday, March 31, 2011

Japanese Handmade Relief Efforts

By: Jennifer T. of MaJenta Designs

It has been 2 weeks since the devastating tsunami struck Japan, claiming at least 10,000 lives and over 17,000 still missing, and there is still continued updates about radioactivity concerns from some of their nuclear power plants. However, out of tragedy comes hope and unity of the human spirit.

There have been overwhelming humanitarian efforts pouring out to help all those affected by this disaster. Even small business and handmade artisans are contributing all that they can to this cause. Simply searching on Etsy , one can find several artists and shops announcing a portion or even 100% of the purchases will go towards relief efforts in Japan.

Here at MaJenta Designs, all of our funky and fun functional gifts and accessories are all made using gorgeous handmade Japanese papers, so as our way of giving back, 50% of of the proceeds from the pocket mirror or keychain bottle opener purchases from now - April 30, 2011 will be donated towards the Japanese Disaster Relief efforts!

Sakura (cherry blossoms) symbolizes the beautiful but transient nature of life
50% proceeds will be donated to Japanese disaster relief efforts

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More examples of just a small sampling of artists/shop owners who are donating a portion of their proceeds or profit from their sales include items such as listed below.

100% proceeds will be donated to Japanese Red Cross

100% proceeds will be donated to U.S. World Vision

The Ginko Tree is considered a ''bearer of hope'' and a symbol of resilience and peace
100% proceeds donated to tsunami relief

100% of the profit will go to Boots on the Ground.org

50% of cost will be donated to Japan Tsunami Appeal

50% of sale will be donated to Mashiko Potters Fund

50% profit donated to UNICEF

$20 of each shirt donated to Red Cross

Please note that above are just a small selection of the Japanese-inspired items found, however, there is a HUGE range of several other interesting items as well throughout Etsy. Simply search key words like "Japanese donation" or "Japanese relief" can bring up a host of interesting items. For example try perusing some of these selections: Etsy search for "Japanese donation"

Not only will you be supporting handmade, but you'll be supporting worthy causes as well! :)

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