How WA Couponers can Help Japan Relief Efforts

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The Ron & Don Show on 97.3 Kiro News here in Western Washington has put together a way that locals can help support the relief efforts in Japan.  They have set up Ron & Don’s Operation Airlift Japan & they will be sending supplies to at least 6 orphanages in Japan, helping over 60 children.  They are collecting supplies thru Sunday April 3rd.  They will then be working with the Naval Base at Misawa, Japan to bring these items to the orphanages.  You can find out more information on their website & on their Facebook page where they will answer your questions directly.

This is a great way that you as a couponer can get involved even if your family is struggling right now & you can’t afford to send money to relief efforts. There are a number of items that they are collecting that you most likely have in your stockpile & could bring to one of the donation sites. I know many of your kids are off on Spring Break this week – wouldn’t this be a great service project to involve your kids in & give them a tangible way that they can help relief efforts in Japan &  most importantly helping children in orphanages.

Here is the list of items that they are collecting:

• Socks
• Underwear
• Toys
• Stationary supplies (for older kids)
• Crayons markers and paper for children
• Umbrellas
• Flashlights
• Batteries
• Powdered milk
• Canned tuna
• Canned chicken
• Spam
• Vienna Sausages
• Peanut butter/Jam
• Cake mixes and frosting
• Bottled water
• Toiletries
• The girls would love hair bows and decorations
• The boys love Yu-Gi-Oh cards/action figures
• Legos sets
• Blankets (they sleep on the floor)
• Toy food/kitchen play sets (for the younger girls)
• Dress up clothes
• Anything Disney, especially princess stuff.
• Older kids like of course MP3’s music IPODS etc etc./Laptops
• Eyeglasses
• Water purification system
• First aid supplies
• Sleeping Bags
• Tents
• Warm clothes, sizes 4t all the way through mens medium and junior girls sizes. It is still chilly here, and they like especially active wear

Here are the drop-off locations around Puget Sound:

• Central Location: KIRO FM in Seattle Monday – Friday, 8:30am-7pm only.
• South: Toyota of Puyallup
• North: Mercedes Benz of Lynnwood
• East: Landrover/Jaguar of Bellevue
• Most Car Toys store locations. Check with their website for participating locations or call your local store.

My friend Sarah let me know that she was at Toys R Us over the weekend & she found baby & toddler clothing in the clearance section with  Buy 1 Get 1 Free discounts. I’m not sure how long this is going on, but it’s worth checking out to see if you could find any items that you could donate.

If you do bring supplies, we’d love to hear about what you bring & even see pictures of you and/or your kids bringing your  donations.  My family & I  will be gone most of this week, but we will definitely be bringing our items this next weekend when we’re back home to the Puyallup location. I’m excited to have my girls help me come up with donations that we can give from our family. Getting them involved in the whole process really makes it so much more meaningful for them & helps them understand why we save money – in order to give more freely.

For those of you who are not in Western Washington, make sure to check out my post with a number of resources how you can help support relief efforts in Japan.

Thanks to my friend Sarah & to Coupon Connections for this tip!