Massive thank you to ZenWorks for the donation to the GoGo Run
Tokyo-based ZenWorks provides a diverse range of licensing-related services. Through our core licensing business areas of consulting and agency services, we support the business development of premium creative content from around the world.
Thank you very much Running in Tokyo for your generous donation
We want to give a very special thank you to Running in Tokyo (Runners for a green future) for generously sponsoring the Go-Go Run with KIWl on November 9th.
Thank you very much IntraLink
We want to thank Intralink for their very generous donation to the jersey of the Go Go Run November 9th.
Intralink offers a range of services tailored to your needs. We cover every stage of market expansion, from validating your opportunity to directly running and growing your business in Asia.
Thank you Focus Core Group for your generous donation
Focus Core Group has generously donated towards the running vest of the GO GO run to be held in November this year. The 2019 Knights in White Lycra Go-Go Run is working in tandem with YouMeWe NPO to provide funding for Tokyo area children's homes.Through YouMeWe NPO, children in group homes are provided with computer skills such as programming, digital literacy,Microsoft Excel and Adobe Photoshop lessons, as well as English language learning software. The Nov 9th run allows participants to meet the children whose lives we will be directly impacting through their donations. $ Equivalent below for registration.
Hays Specialist Recruitment Japan is committed to supporting our local community and have selected You Me We as our main charity partner for FY20.
This time last week, a group of now 'battle hardened' mountaineers from Hays Japan were resting weary limbs from climbing Mount Fuji. Most of the climb took place overnight allowing the group to catch the magnificent sunrise at the summit. We of course climbed Mount Fuji in aid of our charity partner, YouMeWe. You can still donate to our campaign by clicking here > https://lnkd.in/f3xXkKW
COLT Bike Ride 2019
Our annual Charity Bike Ride, sees Colt team members riding hundreds of kilometres to raise money for charities that support children in need. This year, the ride is entering its eighth year, and Colt riders will be travelling more than 520km across four days from Munich to Vienna.
The Colt Bike Ride is our single largest Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) event, and over the past seven years, we’ve raised more than €1,000,000 for charities across 16 countries that support underprivileged children.
When it started, we aimed to ride the entire Colt network, and so far employees have ridden more than 3650km, from London to Paris, Paris to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Zurich, Marseille to Barcelona, Barcelona to Valencia and Milan to Rome.
About the bike ride charities
The Colt Charity Bike Ride supports a collection of beneficiary organisations and your fundraising helps these organisations to continue to provide services to support children, youth education and mental health.
Colt will match all the donations that are made, a great way to increase our impact on the local communities.
Below are some links to the charities our riders are supporting this year. We encourage you to follow the link for your local charity to show support for not only the Colt riders, but also for the important work that each one of these organisations does.
DAA Starts August 12-20th
Designing Artist Academy (DAA) is a 7-day camp in which 30-40 kids living in the children’s home ranging approximately in ages 8-15 will participate. The children will be organized by grades in groups no larger than 10, with group mentors assigned. Each morning will include focused art workshops such as photography, painting, illustration, fashion design, and craftwork followed by afternoon sessions that kids will have a chance to choose from (examples - mural painting, Japanese cultural classes, smaller craft activities, cooking, dancing, singing). At the conclusion of camp, there will be a special exhibition party to celebrate the children’s creations and the completion of camp.
By creating small groups of 10 kids who are assigned 1-2 group mentors who guide and support the group throughout the entire camp, in addition to their workshop artists and other adult volunteers who work with the group, each group is exposed to continual attention from 4-6 adults. We have witnessed the profound positive effect this mentoring aspect has had on the kids. In 7 days time, for those children who start to ‘feel noticed,’ it goes a long way towards feeling that they are not simply stigmas of society. It is this kind of breakthrough that opens up perspectives and we’ve seen new interests and potential developed because of their experience at DAA.
Our DAA camp encourages kids to think freely, discover new interests, and foster potential through mentoring. We are always looking for volunteer artists, camp counselors and general support staff. This year will be our 10th anniversary of the camp.
Weekly training at St.Joseph's with Haba-sensei and Jason
The Digital Citizens of St.Joseph have been meeting weekly to learn about SCRATCH. They recently built robots and have been applying the code to operate the robots bringing them alive.
IchigoJam training at Fukushima Aiikuen
We visited Fukushima Aiikuen and with the help of PCN and Araki-sensei and team, we were able to teach kids about coding using IchigoJam devices and then from that code, bring robots alive.
We also upgraded the computers of the PC club so that they can use MacBooks going forward.
Delivering MacBooks to Sendai Tensien
They will now be able to discover the world of Mac as they have been working with PCs and Tablets up until now.
Thanking Junko for all of her help with the KIWL 2019 Bike Ride logistics
Accommodation for one over four days including restaurants is difficult enough but over 45 people over 500km where everything went so smoothly, we need to give a very big thank you to Junko who helped make this possible.
COLT BBQ with Matsubaen kids
Even in Tokyo, one of the richest cities in the world, do you know that there are children who can not receive enough education due to various difficult situations?
There are many children who can not live with their parents because of family circumstances, and they live in facilities. In principle, they can live in the facility until they are 18 years old, but it is very difficult for them to enter university or go to work after turning 18. Some children give up on education, even though they have academic ability.
We support to eliminate the educational gap of these children.
Take action to make these children's future better.
All donations will be donated to YouMeWe, which supports these children.
A separate thank-you email will be sent from YouMeWe to those who contributed to the donation.
Best regards,
Colt CSR Team
世界の中でも裕福な都市のひとつとされる東京でさえ、様々な困難な状況のため、十分な教育を受けることができない子供たちがいることはご存知でしょうか。
家庭の事情で、保護者と一緒に暮らせない子供たちが多くおり、施設で生活をしています。
原則１８歳までしか施設では生活はできず、大学進学や就職後の生活は非常に困難を要します。学力があっても経済面で進学をあきらめる子供もいます。
私達は、これらの子供たちの教育格差を少しでも解消するためにサポートします。
これらの子供たちの未来がより良いものになるために行動を起こしましょう。
すべての募金は、これらの子供たちをサポートしているYouMeWeに寄付されます。
募金にご協力いただいた方々には、別途、YouMeWeからお礼のメールが送られます。
Colt CSR Team
We had a BBQ with the CSR team of COLT at were able to meet with the teens from Matsubaen about their dreams and plans for the future. COLT is currently organizing a fund raiser HERE to help with the costs of further education,
A big thank you to Ai Flowers, Masae Nakano and the Blu Jam Cafe for this event
We were able to meet many people and supporters of DAA, raise quite a lot of donations and eat some of the best food we have had for a long time!
The invincible compass
If you have ever believed in my passion at all and my dedication to supporting the care and growth of all children, then please read on.
Calling all MATT MILLER supporters!
Calling all KEEN FOOTWEAR supporters!
Calling all MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS supporters!
Calling all CHILDREN DESERVE LOVE & CARE supporters!
Calling all DOMESTIC VIOLENCE/CHILD ABUSE awareness advocates!
Calling all ABANDONED & ORPHANED CHILDREN supporters!
We NEED YOUR SUPPORT & YOUR VOICE to be heard!
If you believe in any of the above statements, then you can do TWO VERY IMPORTANT things to PUSH FORWARD CHANGE!
Myself, along with the support of KEEN Footwear, and the support of countless others,
are launching a global Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign in less than 24 hours!
We launch at NOON on Sunday, July 21st Japan Standard Time.
Japan- 12:00 PM SUNDAY
Melbourne- 1:00 PM SUNDAY
Honolulu- 5:00 PM SATURDAY
Los Angeles- 8:00 PM SATURDAY
Salt Lake- 9:00 PM SATURDAY
Chicago- 10:00 PM SATURDAY
New York- 11:00 PM SATURDAY
London- 4:00 AM SUNDAY
Paris- 5:00 AM SUNDAY
Dubai- 7:00 AM SUNDAY
We need your help with 2 IMPORTANT THINGS:
1. donate $5 or more (The first 72hrs are about numbers, not necessarily money)
2. Please share this with people who you believe also want to push the conversation forth and ask them to donate $5 or more.
If you feel inspired to do more than 2 things, then:
3. like us on social media
FB: @my.invincible.compass
IG: @my.invincible.compass
Twitter: @my_invincible
Here is the link to the Kickstarter. It is not visible until tomorrow: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thethingswecarry/the-invincible-compass
You can watch a quick 1 min. Trailer preview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snjxdbvms_Y&feature=youtu.be
You can watch an in-depth 8min. preview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pHy0UQCpro&feature=youtu.be
We were given access in ways no film in Japan has come close to on our topic and we are about to bring into the world the first…
1. We will be the first feature length film to talk about mental health awareness and rights for children living in institutional care in Japan
2. We will be the first feature length documentary to showcase “the outdoors” as therapy for children living in institutional care in Japan
3. We will be the first feature length documentary to not only discuss but show a rare look into the lives of children living in institutional care in Japan and what they do and don't have.
4. We will be the first feature length film to show the reality of what happens when youth age out of the system at 18 years old in Japan
5. We will be the first full-length feature to follow someone from life inside institutional care all the way through to living life on their own and what it looks like from both sides.
This is the biggest ask I have ever made to any of you and it’s a real ask that will make a real difference in the lives of thousands of children here in Japan. Please consider supporting us.
love,
Matt
Colt Charity Bike Ride 2019
The 8th annual Colt Charity Bike Ride is set to take off later this year. The Colt Corporate Social Responsibility team will aim to ride from Munich to Vienna and will donate all their earnings to disadvantaged children. In total they have raised €1,000,000 for charities spanning 16 different countries. They have partnered with YouMeWe in order to continue helping give children living in Japanese orphanages a greater access to education and a bright future.
In addition to the bike ride, Colt has set up a GoGetFunding page that is dedicated to YouMeWe. Their support has had a tremendous impact on YouMeWe and has allowed us to expand our efforts to help as many homes as possible across Japan.
To contribute to the cause you can follow this link to the CSR team’s GoGetFunding page: https://gogetfunding.com/COLT-CSR-YouMeWe-CharityDonation/?fbclid=IwAR3U6jRdhz0AdoMFPFiR8DKF7SknFuqHYiJ7cpXm964vV226y5l0FAyYMGw
New Summer Intern, Anna Tassia
Anna Tassia is a third year student at the University of Oregon, and a Human Physiology major and Italian minor. She has worked for Albertina Kerr’s Children’s Developmental Health Services Clinic for two years in Portland, Oregon, and for Eugene, Oregon’s BEST afterschool program for one year. She hopes to go into pediatric nursing, and is thrilled to continue working with children through YouMeWe while exploring Tokyo this summer.
New Summer Intern, Trenten Heiser
Trenten Heiser is a Junior at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona, where he is majoring in Sports Management. In his free time, he enjoys staying active by playing sports, especially basketball, and volunteering at a local Feed My Starving Children branch. One day he hopes to be able to combine his passion for sports and helping people to create an NPO of his own. He has never been to Tokyo before, but this is not the first time he has done international volunteer work. In 2015, he went to Guadalajara, Mexico to mentor kids living in an orphanage and it inspired him to travel to different places in the world to help more people. He is very grateful to have the opportunity to intern at YouMeWe this summer and is excited to experience the rich culture that Japan has to offer.
Thank you very much
A massive thank you to the donor company (who wishes to remain anonymous) for their extremely generous donation of 70 MacBooks for the homes. We will be upgrading the kids in Tohoku and Tokyo who have mastered PCs and been wanting to learn more about the abilities of the MAC. Every year we have a field trip to the Apple Store and now more and more of the kids will be able to continue to use the skills they learned about presentation making, movies and making music.
Thank you to NETFLIX for your matching and sponsorship.
We would like to thank NETFLIX for their matching donation for the KIWL 2019 Bike Ride. It was a great event and wonderful to see companies which support their employees in their CSR efforts. This, in addition to the jersey sponsorship.
KIWL 2019 Bike Crew
Seeing is believing. We were lucky enough not only to be sponsored by this wonderful group of people but by their friends, family and companies.
This was the morning of the kick off. I, as a support driver, had already been lost and it was within 1 km of the first hotel in Takasaki. The weather was wonderful and it was the great beginning for what ended up being an eventful and spectacular ride over 4 days and 500 km of stunningly beautiful Japanese countryside. Some places where you just wanted to stop and stare forever.
On the fourth day, when we reached the home in Fukushima, the children had been preparing for weeks to cut out and make flags of the different countries represented by the riders. As they knew, that for many, it would be the first time they had visited Fukushima and wanted to them to feel welcome.
They also spent those weeks online researching about the countries which they visited online as members of the Digital Citizenship club at Fukushima Aiikuen. This home is over 126 years old and was started by a woman in 1893 whose bronze statue is at the base of the climb to the home.
The climb was not an easy one, certainly not for the dozens of riders who had come to the end of the 500km ride. Knowing the children were waiting at the top, everyone mustered every last bit of energy to keep pedaling passed the cheering staff and children and high fiving every little hand that was out-stretched.
The children at Fukushima Aiikuen range from 2-18 years old. Over the years donors have bought them needed vans, installed geiger counter permanent stations and portable devices to measure hot spots after the rain.
We were then lead into the gymnasium where the certificates of appreciation had handwritten thank you notes attached by the kids who made them on the laser cutter printer. Presentations and quizzes were done on each country of each rider. A slide show of the courses funded by KIWL in Tohoku and Tokyo as well as footage from the rider was shown followed by a song by the Echo-sensei Hasegawa-sensei.
YouMeWe volunteers Gerhard, Victor, Mayuko and Juna (including Hide who rode on our behalf) were there for when we gave the speech to thank everyone for everything they have done to help us and continue to support us in our journey which was once just a thought.
On Giving
Kahlil Gibran
You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?
And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?
And what is fear of need but need itself?
Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?
There are those who give little of the much which they have--and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.
And there are those who have little and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.
There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.
And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;
They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space….
…It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding;
And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.
And is there aught you would withhold?
All you have shall some day be given;
Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.
You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving."
The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.
Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights, is worthy of all else from you.
And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.
And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving?
And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed?
See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
For in truth it is life that gives unto life while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.
And you receivers... and you are all receivers... assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.
Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;
For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the freehearted earth for mother…