Tohoku Disaster Relief Fund Appeal

TOHOKU DISASTER RELIEF FUND APPEAL

Dear Bonsai Enthusiast:

All of us in the bonsai community have been heartbroken over the tragedy unfolding in Japan, and would like to do something to show our concern and provide some measure of relief.

While many are donating to the American or Japanese Red Cross and other charities, it would be wonderful if those of us involved with the National Bonsai Foundation could assist our fellow bonsai community in Japan by organizing a special NBF fund to assist those bonsai people directly affected by this disaster. Such a gesture by NBF and its supporters would show the strong bond of friendship through bonsai that exists between countries and demonstrate our solidarity with the people of Japan in this time of crisis.

As a first step, we have been in touch with Chairman Hiroshi Takeyama of the Nippon Bonsai Association (NBA), and he is opening up a new NBA bank account (the "Tohoku Account") to accept donations to assist the Japanese bonsai community. The Tohoku region of Japan occupies the northeastern portion of the island of Honshu, where much of the damage occurred during the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Among the bonsai artists who lost everything but their lives in this disaster is Isao Omachi, a young rising star who lived with his wife, two daughters and elderly parents in Yamada-machi, 90 yards from the ocean in Iwate prefecture.

We ask you to please join us in making a generous donation to the NBF fund which we are naming the "Tohoku Disaster Relief Fund." Please note on your check that the money is for the "Tohoku Disaster Relief Fund" (made out to the "National Bonsai Foundation") & address it to "The National Bonsai Foundation, 3501 New York Avenue N.E., Washington D.C. 20002." Please send your check by April 15, 2011.

Your donation to NBF for the Tohoku Disaster Relief Fund is tax deductible for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the full extent of the law. All monies that NBF receives for the Tohoku Disaster Relief Fund will be forwarded to NBA, and NBF's letter transmitting the funds to NBA will list the names of all donors to this fund.

We would also like you to know that a Book of Condolence is available to all visitors to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum. Here you will be able to express your own personal messages to the people of Japan. This book will be available for signatures until early November and then will be delivered in person by the Curator Jack Sustic to the NBA at the Asia Pacific Bonsai and Suiseki convention in Japan in late autumn.

Thank you for your kind generosity to help our friends in the Japanese bonsai community.

Sincerely yours,

/Felix/

Felix Laughlin
On behalf of the NBF Board of Directors

P.S.: We applaud the efforts of Marco Invernizzi, Doug Paul and Shinji Suzuki, who have organized a world-wide fundraising effort to provide direct financial support for the Omachi family and members of their village. If you also wish to make a donation directly to the Omachi Relief Fund, please send a check to the Omachi Relief Fund, P.O. Box 22, Yorklyn, DE 19736, USA.