Status of our fundraising efforts...

(4 month old baby found alive amid rubble)

Mika and I would first like to send out a warm thank you to all of our friends and family who donated to our collection fund.  We are very happy to announce that we have reached our goal of raising $1,000.  We are still continuing our efforts to raise funds and awareness about the crisis in Japan.  We are in the process of planning a benefit at Bourbon Street.  We will keep this blog updated with developments on the benefit.

Next, I would like to take some time here on the blog to let all of you know what will happen with the funds we have collected.  The majority of funds have been collected through PayPal.  I have been in contact with PayPal several times since March 11 and since we started this blog/collection page.   We had originally planned to bring the funds we collected, in hand, as far as we physically could to the affected areas by this month's earthquake and tsunami.

As a result of the conversations had with PayPal, we had to make a small change of plans.  We decided to donate the collected funds to Direct Relief International's Japan Relief and Recovery Fund.  Direct Relief International is working with the Japanese American Citizen League to provide funds in the areas most affected areas of northeastern Japan.  These funds will be used to continue the clean-up effort, continue the search/rescue/recovery effort, to support evacuation centers that are temporarily providing shelter to survivors of the earthquake/tsunami, etc.

We will keep this blog posted with updates on our fundraising efforts.

Thank you again to all who have contributed.  With your help, we have been able to make a difference in the lives of those who have suffered so much.

Sincerely,

Brian & Mika Hampson