Saint Maur International School actively supports various charities throughout the year. One of the school’s long-standing community and charitable exercises is the Sanagitachi Project, a non-profit organization that provides clothing, medical care, food, work, and housing — known as the Five Pillars of the Sanagitachi Project — to support the inhabitants of Kotobuki-cho, Yokohama.
Kotobuki-cho is a small district (200m x 300m) near Chinatown and JR Ishikawa-cho Station. There are about 110 “doss houses” (simple lodgings where day labourers stay to find work away from home) where approximately 6,500 inhabitants live. By focusing on psychological support, the Sanagitachi Project aims to encourage the homeless and those who may become homeless to become self-supportive and independent.
Saint Maur students this year organized a collection of warm winter clothes in November for the Sanagitachi Project. The response from families was very positive, and the school was able to donate numerous bags of clothes and quite a good supply of soap, shampoo, and other toiletries/hotel type amenities. The elementary school’s annual “Rice Drive,” which will take place later in the school year, also benefits the same charity. The school collects between 500 and 600 kilos of rice each year, all of which is donated to the homeless of Yokohama.
This year another main charity push leading up to Christmas was to support the “Change for Good Program.” This is a program run by airlines that are members of the One World Alliance. Foreign coins from any country are collected, sorted, and exchanged for US dollars to provide cash for the United Nations Children’s Fund. One of the Saint Maur teachers has offered to hand the coins to Cathay Pacific Airlines, and with just over three kilos of coins collected, let’s hope he does not exceed his weight allowance! — BRENDAN AGNEW
