All, On 2011-03-23, at 01:08 , Peter Junge wrote:
> OpenOffice.org Community, > > our long term friend and OOo contributer Kazunari Hirano from Japan > lives in Ichinoseki > (http://pds.exblog.jp/pds/1/201103/18/84/a0005484_21312387.jpg), which > has been heavily shaken by the earthquake on March 11th. Ichinoseki is > also located in the direct back-country of the coast areas of > Rikuzentakada and Ofunato which have been devastated by the tsunami. > Hundred thousands of people lost their homes and are still in need of an > appropriate shelter. Now, Kazunari wants to prepare his little school as > an emergency accommodation for evacuees. For the details please read: > http://openoffice.exblog.jp/12298764/ > > What Kazunari needs most is money to take care of the expenses for his > generous venture. For this reason, we are collecting donations for > Kazunari using the channels of "Team OpenOffice.org e.V.". You can send > money via PayPal, credit card, bank transfer or check. For details > please refer: > http://contributing.openoffice.org/donate.html > Every donation, that indicates the intended purpose with "Earthquake > Japan" or similar keywords will go directly to Kazunari. > > *Please help Kazunari to help others!* > This is a great opportunity to make donations for Japanese earthquake > victims, knowing where the money goes and as well avoiding loss due to > administrative expenses as they occur in larger relief organizations. I second Peter's request, via Khirano, and am glad to learn that not only is Khirano well, but that others involved in OpenOffice.org who live in Japan are also well. As many of you know, the Japanese OpenOffice.org community is one of the largest making up OpenOffice.org's global communities. Money is useful, but as recent reports have underscored, Japan is not Haiti, which a year ago, we recall, also suffered a devastating earthquake, and where Haiti constantly needs money, resources, and global attention, Japan's needs differ. But the larger issue, which by no means occludes the request forwarded by Khirano and presented here by Peter, is how can we, the OpenOffice.org community, working in concert with other Free and Open-Source communities around the world, help directly. I have been active in this effort and am seeking to help coordinate the global efforts so as to provide *effective* relief that is *community* based and that is *sustainable* as well as being *sustaining.* The distinction is that money is immensely useful and is always needed, but what really makes a difference that lasts is the establishment of community resources—informational, technological, personal—that allow the afflicted, the refugee, the deprived to gain from the global communities. I thank Peter for sending this out. I'll be issuing more information on how we, the OOo community and others, can complement the efforts outlined above with community action. > > Best regards, > Peter (OpenOffice.org Marketing Project) > > P.S.: Forwarding this call for donations is of course welcome. Best, Louis -- Louis Suarez-Potts, PhD Community Development Manager OpenOffice.org -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to discuss-unsubscr...@openoffice.org For additional commands send email to sy...@openoffice.org with Subject: help
