June 18, 2012

Grocery deliveries are also a time to chat and check on the evacuees With funding from the BTMU Americas Community Award, JCIE provided a grant to Sankaku Planning in order to help strengthen communities’ ties and serve vulnerable populations, particularly senior citizens and disabled disaster survivors, through a “Delivery Care Project.” This hires unemployed women affected by the March 11 disaster to provide shopping services to other survivors—many of them disabled senior citizens, people who are ill, pregnant women, and others—who have lost their homes and now live in temporary housing. Much of the temporary housing is situated in higher elevations quite a distance from shopping centers, and since many people lost their cars in the tsunami and public transportation is not readily available, it makes it challenging for people to go out to purchase groceries and daily necessities. Through the Delivery Care Project, residents can place their orders and pay a nominal fee of to have the project staff to do the shopping for them and deliver the items they need. Through regular contact, the project staff can also keep track of the physical and mental health of their clients, who may otherwise be at risk of becoming isolated from their community. For more information