Tokar Lesya, the second person from the right, is a Ukrainian living in Japan. She visited our NGO to send wheelchairs for children to Ukraine. On the far right is Ms. Yamabe of “More Jobs Better Lives,” a public benefit corporation that supports Ms. Lesya, and seated to Ms. Lesya’s left is Yahachiro Ishikawa, the owner of Ishikawa Sake Brewery, and the last one is me, Morita.
The 12 wheelchairs seen in the photo were selected at this event, and it was also decided that the Ishikawa Brewery would donate tableware to Ukrainians living in Japan.
◆We got an email out of the blue.
On September 8, 2022, we received an email from a person who wanted to send wheelchairs to Ukraine. The email was sent by Ms. Yamabe of the More Jobs Better Lives. An acquaintance of Ms. Yamabe’s, together with Ms. Tokar Lesya, who has been accepting Ukrainian refugees, were considering providing relief supplies to Ukraine and asked if we could also donate some wheelchairs for children.
◆We had her come to the Haijima warehouse right away.
Ms. Leysa seemed to be in a hurry and wanted to send about 5-10 wheelchairs in about 2 weeks. We immediately asked her to come to our Haijima warehouse to talk about the details. When she saw the 12 children’s wheelchairs we had prepared quickly, she said, “Excellent. We could get adult wheelchairs, but we couldn’t find wheelchairs for children. I would definitely like to send them to Ukraine.” Although we were not able to clean and maintain the wheelchairs fully on such short notice, we selected relatively clean ones and checked the tires, valve rubber, and brakes before donation.
◆We made an immediate decision for the donation.
Our basic approach is to fully understand the actual situation of the organization accepting wheelchairs and to confirm that the children’s wheelchair will not become oversize trash at the destination, that repairs can be made, and that the organization can manage the wheelchair’s fit with the child’s body. This time, however, the decision to donate wheelchairs was made immediately because they were going to a country in a state of war.
◆The recipient is the Federation of Ukrainian Food Banks.
The Federation of Ukrainian Food Banks is based in Kyiv (formerly known as Kiev), Ukraine, and was registered by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on October 26, 2000 (State Registration Certificate No. 0380). It was registered by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on October 26, 2000 (State Registration Certificate No. 0380).
The aim of the Federation of Ukrainian Food Banks is to provide assistance to the most socially vulnerable citizens of Ukraine, underprivileged children and children with disabilities. It is to help the victims of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the victims of the war in Ukraine.” said the federation’s website.
◆Nearly 2,000 Ukrainian refugees to Japan.
According to the website of the Immigration Services Agency of Japan, the number of refugees from Ukraine is 1,879 (as of September 28, 2022). Among them, there are about 700 Ukrainians in the Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba metropolitan areas. It seems that support for these people is also urgently needed. According to Ms. Lesya, they need such support because they have fled to Japan with nothing but their clothes on their backs and do not have any daily necessities.
◆Support from Ishikawa Brewery has also been decided.
Mr. Ishikawa, the head of the Ishikawa Sake Brewery, who happened to be in the warehouse, said to Ms. Lesya, “We have a lot of dishes that we no longer use. Would you like to use them?” She answered, “Please offer them to us. We will give them to people who come to Japan. It would be a great help.” The decision to support Ukrainians in Japan was made on the spot. Ms. Lesya and her friends will come to Ishikawa Sake Brewery to pick up the necessary tableware in the near future. We are happy to see such a circle of support expanding.
◆We expect it to arrive in Ukraine at the end of November or beginning of December.
The wheelchairs were loaded onto a 40-foot container along with other relief supplies on October 3 and transported to the container yard at the Port of Tokyo. On October 8, the wheelchairs will leave the Port of Tokyo for the port of Gdansk, Poland. It will take about two months to reach Poland, and from there it will be further transported overland to Kyiv in Ukraine. We pray for their earliest possible arrival. Thanks to the many people who support our NGO, we are very happy to be involved in this kind of humanitarian aid.
October 4, 2022 President Hirokazu Morita
〇Container loading
Wheelchairs on pallets are loaded into containers with forklifts.
The 40-foot container was loaded with many other supplies besides our wheelchairs and departed for the container yard at the Port of Tokyo.