By Lindsey Bever
lbever@neighborsgo.com

Following the largest earthquake to hit Japan in more than a century and the subsequent tsunami that cleared the coast – even the youngest Dallas residents are lending a hand.

Five-year-old Hudson Plaskoff of North Dallas co-founded the nonprofit group, Lemons to Aid, with his mother, and has helped raise more than $2,000 through lemonade stands that children across North Texas and the rest of the U.S. are helping to run.

“There was a tsunami and the water went over the city. Some cars and houses washed away,” Hudson said, and it makes him want to “help rebuild the houses in Japan.”

Hudson and his mother, Melissa, started the nonprofit to help with the relief effort in Haiti last year. Since then, children nationwide have held more than 150 events, she said.

“These kids are going to learn so much,” Melissa Plaskoff said. “The next time there’s an unfortunate situation like this, he’s going to know how to help. He wants to help.

“Explaining this to him is important, and giving him an active role helps him have a better understanding of what’s going on. He really is getting it.”

It’s an attitude of giving that is contagious.

Giving spirit runs deep

As a community, Dallas, the friendship city of Sendai, Japan, is offering support.

The Japan-America Society of Dallas-Fort Worth launched an emergency relief fund March 14 to collect donations for aid relief and recovery efforts in Sendai.

“I’m very happy with the pro-Japanese sentiment,” said David Ball, 51, a Grapevine resident whose late mother was from Sendai. “My mother and father raised me to be an American first, but to remember my heritage.”

That’s why Ball, a long-distance runner who will compete in the Boston Marathon next month, will run to raise $10,000 in donations that he will funnel into the society’s fund.

“I feel very strongly about assisting my mother’s hometown. It’s where my family lives,” said Ball, who runs annually to raise money for the Parkland Foundation Burn Camp. “I feel very strongly about an expression of doing something substantial other than just well-wishing and praying.”

Cross-cultural partners

As friendship cities, Dallas and Sendai have worked together to establish cross-cultural understanding, educational and sports exchange programs, and to promote business relationships between the two cities since 1997, according to the society.

Since 1996, Sendai has invited about 46 Dallas-area runners to participate in the annual Sendai International Half Marathon to promote international friendship and exchange through sports. The two cities have exchanged about 70 high school students who spend a week with a host family, meeting city officials and seeing the sights to “have a cross-cultural experience,” said Anna McFarland, the group’s executive director.

To commemorate the cities’ 10-year relationship in 2007, Dallas sculptor Eliseo Garcia created an outdoor statue out of Texas limestone, which was sent to Sendai.

“We want to help them get their feet back on the ground after this terrible tragedy,” McFarland said. “The recovery will be a long one and we want to continue supporting them. We’re very gratified by the huge outpouring in the community.”

The Japan-America Society of Dallas-Fort Worth is also partnering with the Crow Collection of Asian Art, local college students, a performing arts organization, a sports organization, Project A-Kon and a Japanese culture club at Lyon College in Batesville, Ark., to channel donations into the society’s emergency fund, McFarland said.

It’s this relationship between Sendai and Dallas that, Ball said, is the real blessing.

“That’s what’s going to make our bond so strong is seeing who stood up and helped when tragedy struck,” Ball said. “I feel like I’m the living embodiment of the Japan-American way of thinking. A lot of people I know are so pro-Japanese, and that’s a great feeling.”

HOW TO HELP

Lemons to Aid will have a stand from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 26 at the Museum of Nature & Science, 1318 S. Second Ave. in Dallas, to raise money for Japan.

To donate to the Japan-America Society’s emergency relief fund, visit jasdfw.org.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief has partnered with the United Church of Christ in Japan and GlobalMedic to provide survivors with clean drinking water, food, basic cooking and eating supplies, clothing and fuel, according to a news release. To make a donation, visit gbgm-umc.org/umcor.

The YMCA in Japan has formed a task force, which will focus on supporting victims, children, handicapped, elderly and migrant workers in Japan, and will form support stations at the Sendai YMCA and Tochigi YMCA, according to a news release. The Dallas YMCA has made a donation of $5,000. To contribute, send a check to the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, Attention: Lacey LaPointe, 601 N. Akard St., Dallas, TX 75201, or call Lacey LaPointe at 972-560-3831.
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Lindsey Bever is a reporter for neighborsgo and can be reached at lbever@neighborsgo.com or 214-977-8051.