The following post is from guest blogger Jiani Xu. In the coming months, Collective Good hopes to have more guests post about a variety of topics. If you’re interested in contributing, please shoot us a message.
In the past month alone, traditional news sources have all but forgotten about Japan. Like them, the initial wave of support for Japan has, too, dwindled down. Unfortunately, the help that Japan needs for recovery has not dwindled down. Luckily, there are some organizations out there that are keeping alive the spirit of helping, and the spirit of creativity, by offering an incentive for donating to Japanese relief efforts.
Wear philanthropy
The 1,000 Prayers for Japan t-shirt project is from a company called Love+Water Designs that creates Wearable Philanthropy. Each shirt is $35 on the website and comes with a pre-stamped postcard to send someone in Japan your well wishes. Currently, there are 2 designs for sale, one from Catherine Skinner and another from Robert Indiana, the creator of the iconic “LOVE” statues. Since each design has a limited print of 200 shirts, they are also collector items.
Watch a movie
Even though the movie Hereafter with Clint Eastwood was pulled from Japanese theaters due to (spoiler alert!) a scene in the movie involving a tsunami disaster, some profits made on its DVD sales will be donated to the tsunami relief effort. Clint Eastwood and Warner Bros. will donate upwards of $1 million from the profits of Hereafter to the Red Cross.
Listen to some (good) music
Benefit for the Recovery in Japan is a compilation album by various artists featuring 64 songs, including those by Akron/Family and School of Seven Bells. Besides, with 64 songs to choose from, there’s bound to be a few that you like. You can purchase the album here for $15. 100% of the proceeds will go to Civic Force, a Japanese non-profit organization that provides emergency aid and response.
On the other side of the spectrum is Songs for Japan, a compilation album with artists from Universal Music. For only $10, you can listen guilt free to the likes of John Lennon, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lady Gaga, Foo Fighters, and Bob Dylan. All of the artists on the album are relatively well known so you’re definitely getting your money’s worth. At $0.26 per song, this is a bargain.
Add some stickers to your bumper
Stickers! Each decal costs $5 and all proceeds are being donated to the Red Cross for Japan relief.
Post a quirky picture
tUnE-yArDs’ Merrill Garbus is donating $1 for each picture of their fans painted in tUnE-yArDs-esque paint that’s posted to their Flickr account.
Redecorate your living room
The “Help Japan” print is an 18″ x 24″ high quality digital print on white tone semi-gloss poster stock from Signalnoise. For $30, it would make a nice decoration piece that comes with a story.
