It’s a challenge to the members of St. Timothy’s to join me in a fundraising effort for Episcopal Relief and Development’s work to rebuild Earthquake ravaged Haiti and to contribute to a memorial project initiated by the Riverside Museum of Art. 1000 cranes and 1000 dollars.
Origami cranes have long been associated with the month of August. They are a symbol of concern and hope for the future of the planet among peace and justice ministry workers of America. All this connection seems to have arisen about twenty years after the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima near the end of World War II.
The link to Peace and Justice Ministries begins with one child. Sadako Sasaki was dying of leukemia which developed as a result of the exposure to radiation. She had one goal; to fold one thousand paper cranes before she died. An unusual goal to Americans but it made perfect sense within the Japanese traditions. Sadako was inspired by the gift of one paper crane folded for her school friend while visiting her in the hospital. In Japan the tradition held that anyone who folded one thousand paper cranes would receive their wish from a crane. While Sadako did achieve her goal of one thousand cranes, she died at the very young age of 12, in October of 1955. According to the exhibit at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, school friends helped her achieve her goal before her death.
Paper cranes have been folded as a symbol of the prayers for peace on earth, and the elimination of nuclear weapons around the globe. They have also become a symbol in the Japanese American community used to commemorate the lives of the 120,313 Japanese Americans interned in America during World War II, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Several different paper crane collections have been initiated over the years. One currently in process is called the California Paper Crane Peace Project which was launched by the Riverside Metropolitan Museum. This project has a goal of collecting 93,785 cranes; one for every person from California who was sent to a Japanese American Internment camp during World War II.
This spring, following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the paper crane gained a new place of meaning among youth around the United States. Shortly after the earthquake and tsunami a campaign to raise funds for relief to Japan was launched where donations of folded cranes where matched by financial donors with a $2.00 donation. Youth groups around the nation participated in that effort and collectively raised 1.4 million dollars within a matter of weeks. I, like many paper crane folders, was glad to send off a flock of 20 cranes to a youth group in Idaho Falls, Idaho to help them reach their goal of 1000 cranes to contribute toward the redevelopment of Sendai, Japan.
Paper folding is a calming activity. In my own life, I have developed an attitude toward folding paper cranes which incorporates prayer. When I worried about our son while he was deployed in Iraq, I would stop the negative effects of worry by folding a crane and lifting up a specific intention to God with each fold. Over one period of time I found myself folding daily, and placing them on my bookshelves as a reminder that I had placed him in God’s care. The visual reminder stemmed my worry. I folded many, and still have a portion of that collection of cranes, but have since tucked them away in a box. Our son is now on American soil.
In the Episcopal Church we are aware that the work of response to disasters that occur in any area is a multi-stage process. Episcopal Relief and Development provides not only immediate relief, but also looks at each situation to provide long term reconstruction and development. The work of rebuilding Haiti is in year one of a long term project, probably ten years of work to fully develop and restore hope to our Caribbean island neighbor. The prayers we offer for peace and hopes of restoration will not be enough. Money and human power will also be needed.
So, I proposed a modest goal for the St. Timothy’s Parish; one thousand cranes and one thousand dollars to be collected, and raised within our congregation.
A table is set up in the Fellowship Hall each week with instructions and paper supplies. You are invited to make an offering for the paper and learn the art of paper crane folding.
Join me in prayer and action for the healing of the world and for the recovery of Haiti.
Our 1000 cranes, once completed will be contributed to the Riverside Museum’s California Paper Crane Peace Project, and the money collected will be sent to Episcopal Relief and Development, designated for redevelopment projects in Haiti.
Shalom,
Barbara
post script... one way you can painlessly contribute to Episcopal Relief and Development is by signing up to use the Charitable Online Shopping mall Igive.com found HERE and then do your online shopping and see the donations add up.
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