Dear Worldwide ERC® Members and Global Citizens:
Over several days, we have seen the painful events in Japan after last week’s earthquake and tsunami, and the additional fears brought by the nuclear crisis there. New media that paints pictures and tells stories at the speed of light shows us, first-hand, the anguish of our brothers and sisters in other lands when tragedy hits.
We know that Worldwide ERC® members want to reach out to our Japanese neighbors – indeed, many of you already have – to bring our characteristic empathy and kindness to this distressed part of the world. Below, we have included a letter from our service partners in Japan, who have underscored the need for assistance from our industry.
The Board of Trustees of the Worldwide ERC® Foundation for Workforce Mobility has pledged funds for aid to the survivors, and the Foundation will match all donations up to a total of $5000. Here is our appeal: we’re asking that you help us double this amount by making a contribution online by March 31, 2011 from our Foundation contribution page. (To specify that your donation is to be used for Japan relief, type “Japan” in the box where you see “this contribution is on behalf of.”)
Our selected charity is GlobalGiving, a remarkable international organization that helps countries and individuals in disaster situations in record time, and applies nearly the entire amount of a donor’s contribution to a needy region within 60 days. They have established a focused Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund, where the Foundation is directing its contribution.
We can heal a little piece of this huge tragedy by providing food and clothing, water and medical supplies to people just like us; people who kissed their kids goodbye in the morning, and went to work every day, and dreamed of a better life for their families. Many people lost everything, in the blink of an eye. Let’s show them that the friends they have never met in the relocation and workforce mobility industry have them in our hearts.
I know you will join with your peers to make a positive difference after this awful event, and help the people of Japan begin to rebuild their lives and country. Thank you for your continued compassion and care for those in your immediate circle, and around the world. I am proud to call myself a member of this amazing community we have made together.
Warm regards,
Kevin E. Russell, SCRP
Chairman of the Worldwide ERC® Foundation for Workforce Mobility
Cartus Home Loans
Click here to make your Foundation contribution for Japan aid.
Click here for information on GlobalGiving.
A message from the Worldwide ERC® member service providers of Japan
The people of Japan, represented here by the Japan service providers of Worldwide ERC®, would like to ask for your support of the victims of the savage earthquake and tidal waves that last Friday took the lives of thousands of innocent citizens, and devastated the lives of many thousands more.
Japan really needs the world right now, and we are turning to you to help us. While the media concentrates on the potential nuclear issues, the service providers behind this message, like the general Japanese population, are dedicated to providing unified assistance to the real people in need. These are the people whose families have drowned and whose houses have been washed away forever.
We are amazed at the resilience of the Japanese people, and the way they are pulling together to beat the odds. We are not leaving Tokyo. We are not leaving Japan. We are here to join forces with the Japanese people to overcome this huge setback.
Please give us a head start, and donate generously to the Worldwide ERC® Foundation for Japan aid (https://www.worldwideerc.org/Foundation/Pages/ssl-contribute.aspx). We know that many of you have experienced the kindness of the Japanese people, and there is no better time to return your gratitude.
Thank you very much.
Contributing to this letter on behalf of all Worldwide ERC® member service providers in Japan were Andrew Olea, Asian Tigers Mobility; Kazuko Aruga, Consultants Japan; Louis Pimentel, Crown Relocation; Takashi Kurihara, Cort (Tokyo Lease); Kent Ueki, Fukuoka Soko; Willl Keating, Interlink; Erik Ishimaru, Oakwood Worldwide; Emika Higashi, Planners Relocation; Ken Arbor, Reloc8 (Tokyo Orientations); Steve Burson, ReloJapan; Joe Webber, Santa Fe; and Midori Hirano, TGA, Inc.