Charities
FIT For Charity is dedicated to supporting non-profit community organisations serving important, but not necessarily well-recognised needs, with limited fundraising capabilities. Supported charities that represent this principle are chosen from organisations in the greater Tokyo area. Funds are divided equally among them. In 2009 the below six organisations were chosen.
The fifth FIT For Charity Run held on 29 November 2009 raised a total of JPY 58,907,845. The after-expense donation totaled JPY54,629,385 and was equally divided among the six local non-profit organisations supported.
Because all members of the FIT For Charity Organising Committee are unpaid volunteers, and because almost all of the elements needed to stage the FIT event are donated by companies and their employees, the community organisations supported by FIT receive 100% of all donations and participation fees, and over 90% of the total funds collected (93% in 2009).
The FIT for Charity Run 2009 organising committee members gathered on 25 February 2010 at Thomson Reuters Market KK offices, to present a donation of JPY 9,104,898 to each of the six community organisations.
The organisations will spend the donations as follows.
Operates a community-based day care center for sick children, thereby helping to create a society where parents can work and raise children simultaneously.
The donation is used to:
- Provide support to single parent families so they can ask for child care services at affordable prices, and
- Build a public relations system intended for individual users to collect donations.
The expected impact is to:
- Support 40 single parent families with sick children for 2 years, and
- Provide an environment where a single parent family can achieve their careers and raise their children at the same time.
Japan Hearing Dogs for Deaf People
Trains hearing dogs and service dogs to facilitate, at zero charge, the deaf and the physically disabled to participate in society. Chooses training dogs out of abandoned dogs or dogs without owners.
The donation is used to:
- Train and lease up to 4 hearing dogs including support for the users in Tokyo,
- Create promotional materials,
- Purchase computer equipment for Tokyo office,
- Enhance the Volunteer & Supporter Management System, and
- Organise 10 promotional events in Tokyo.
The expected impact is:
- Opportunity to train more new dogs and lease them to the people with hearing difficulties free of charge
- Providing better services to the existing hearing dog users by more efficient management of supporters and volunteers
- Wider and better promotion of hearing dogs in Japan
- Enhanced and strengthened activity base in Tokyo by improving the Tokyo office infrastructure
Provides a home for children who have no parents or who do not have a safe place to live, due to abuse or other reasons. Supports these children to become self-reliant
The donation was used as follows:
- Financial support of the children living in Kibo-no-Ie to receive higher education
- Providing a yearly JPY500,000 support for four consecutive years to graduates from Kibono-Ie who are currently going to collage/university/vocational schools
The expected impact is to:
- Offer higher education to children from Kibo-no-Ie , and
- Motivate younger children to aim for higher education and follow the footsteps of others.
Operates an orphanage/childcare centre, which hosts a total of 46 local and foreign children. The home needs to install air-conditioners in some rooms, which currently do not have any, and to set up an additional kitchen as well.
The donation was used to:
- Renovate washrooms and other areas in the orphanage/child care center,a nd
- Install extra kitchen facilities and air conditioning in the bedrooms.
The expected impact is:
- Providing traumatized children with comfortable and safe housing in a family-like environment by providing smaller dining areas instead of a large dining room as well as separate bathrooms for boys and girls with hot water
Positive Living and Community Empowerment Tokyo
Aims to foster a community environment for people living with HIV/AIDS by providing direct support, educational activities on prevention, research and training
The donation was used as follows:.
- Project for Improving Organizational Environment – more efficient services by moving offices
- Project for Human Resource Development – strengthening HR Development and improving training programs to meet increasing demands
- Project for Creating Educational Materials – new materials expressing the reality of HIV/AIDS in order to appeal to a wider group of people.
The expected impact is:
- Increasing the living environment for people living with HIV/AIDS
The Tyler Foundation for Childhood Cancer
Supports Japanese children with cancer and their families. Innovative programs empower through education, counseling, activities and sibling support (in hospital and at our Shine On! House), and promote medical excellence.
The donation was used as follows:
Shine On! Therapy Dog Program:
- Salary for nurse/handler
- Maintenance for Bailey, the therapy dog – vet, food, toys, etc.
- Bailey “goods” for patients – photo books, Bailey dolls, etc.
The expected impact is:
- Hiring and training a new clinical psychologist at the National Center for Child Health and Development to replace the psychologist moving to Osaka in April
The FIT For Charity Organising Committee again thanks all the 2009 sponsors, supporters, donors, volunteers and participants for their help. Without them the above achievements and support of the chosen non-profit organisations wouldn’t have been possible.
