Community - Kokujiban

This page provides notices of Japanese or Asian-themed events or news that are not sponsored or endorsed by Oya No Kai or the Japanese Magnet Program. They are provided for your interest.

Obon Festival, August 1

The Oregon Buddhist Temple will hold their annual Obon Festival on Saturday, August 1st from 4-9pm. Kyoko Gibbs has offered a booth to the upcoming 5th and 8th graders to fundraise for our Japan trips and very generously offered to cover the $75 cost for us.

Please let me know if you would be willing to chair this event or volunteer to come with your student to staff the booth. We could do 1-2 hour shifts depending on how many people volunteer.

Also, please e-mail any ideas you have for possible fundraisers for this event. We can't do shaved ice or yo-yo's, as the church already offers these.

This is a wonderful event and could be a great opportunity for us.

Thanks,
Sally Mays

Go to Camp Collins with Japanese students, August 2 - 8

Each summer YMCA Camp Collins proudly partners with the Saitama YMCA in Japan to offer a dynamic, cultural opportunity for youth. In August, Japanese children ranging in ages from 8 to 13 journey across the Pacific to Oregon and participate in a week of resident camp at YMCA Camp Collins, just outside Gresham. During this week, campers are placed in cabins with American campers and enjoy traditional American camping activities like archery, arts and crafts, tubing, horseback riding, rock climbing and more.

The week following resident camp, the group spends time exploring Oregon through recreational, educational and tourist-focused excursions. YMCA Camp Collins is striving to improve this already rich experience and to meet Saitama YMCA's program goals with the addition of home-stays in the Portland community. YMCA Camp Collins is in search of home-stay families for campers from Japan for the week of August 8th-14th, 2009. Home-stay families will begin hosting campers the afternoon of Saturday, Aug. 8th. YMCA Camp Collins will be organizing activities for Japanese campers and children of host families to participate in during the day, Monday through Thursday. Japanese campers will travel home with home-stay families each evening. Home-stay families can host 1-3 campers depending on camper's age and families' ability.

Interested families must fill out a Volunteer Application and will be required to attend an orientation prior to the home-stay week. Applications will be reviewed on a first come basis. Completed applications can be mailed to:

YMCA Camp Collins
Attn: Sarah LaPointe
3001 SE Oxbow Parkway
Gresham, OR 97080

For more information, feel free to contact Sarah LaPointe, YMCA Camp Collins Group Services Director, at slapointe@ymca-portland.org. We look forward to you joining us in this international initiative aimed at bringing the world closer together through supportive communities.

Summer homestay families needed

Individual host families needed for a group of female students from Junshin High School in Tokyo, Japan.

Details:

July 20th to August 10th
Students attend classes from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. (M-F)
Classes held at Jason Lee Middle School
Host families provide room and board

Benefits:

Unique and rewarding experience for entire family
Share your home and country with a foreign guest
Gain a unique understanding of another culture

For more information contact Mr. David Douglas at (360) 993-0077

Three schools, two languages, one community