RON AND DON

Ron and Don’s Operation Airlift Japan

Mar 22, 2011, 6:44 PM | Updated: Jan 24, 2018, 10:21 pm

Ron and Rachel stop by a gymnasium in Misawa to check out how your donations are being received…

Ron and Rachel are moving south… Check out some of the scenes from the road in Japan.

Ron and Rachel spent the weekend traveling to Misawa, Japan and then visiting the Air Force Base, touring the port, and meeting Gemini.

UPDATE (7/9/11):

A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 hit Japan’s northeastern coast on Sunday, prompting a brief tsunami warning for the area still recovering from a devastating quake and killer wave four months ago. Read more from the AP.

Ron and Rachel, on their way out of Misawa, say they didn’t feel the quake.

UPDATE (7/8/11)

Ron and Rachel have landed in Japan!

They are making their way to the Misawa Air Force Base and then they’ll meet the children at the orphanage.

Check out the photos of Japan four months after the devastating tsunami.

…Posted Thursday…

Ron and Rachel are on their way to Misawa for Operation Airlift Japan!

The dynamic duo will meet the kids living at the orphanage who are going to benefit from all your generous donations.

If it wasn’t for our amazing listeners and a few key players, Ron and Rachel would be nowhere near Misawa right now, nor would the thousands of pounds of donations be reaching those kids.

Listen: Rachel interviews Michael, who was our savior for Operation Airlift Japan.

Before R&R could pack their bags and head for the airport, Rachel, who has lived in Japan, thought it would be a good idea to teach Ron a few Japanese phrases.

Listen: Rachel tries to educate Ron

Things didn’t go so well, but Ron says he plans to use a few apps to help him communicate.

A few local TV news crews showed up Wednesday to talk to us about the trip.

Read KING-5’s report and then take a look at the Q-13 video.

Check back soon to see photos and video from Ron and Rachel’s trip.

UPDATE:

The ship has arrived and volunteers at Misawa Airbase, in northeastern Japan, are busy unpacking a whopping 43.5 tons of your super generous donations: mountains of clothes, boxes of homemade quilts, truck loads of food. They’ll soon be distributed to kids in local orphanages and local families who lost everything to the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.

Guess what? Ron and I are actually GOING to Misawa, Japan to meet the kids, living at the orphanages, who are going to benefit from these donations. I will be sending back lots of stories for the show & Ron will do some live broadcasting. We’ll take photos and video so you can see the people you’re helping.

Special thanks to ISTAT Airlink, A Humanitarian Initiative of the ISTAT Foundation, and Hawaiian Airlinesfor making this journey to Japan possible.

The base just sent us this video so you can see the donations arrive, watch the volunteers sort through them and meet the amazing Gemini Sanford, who inspired this entire operation.

Where it began:

Gemini Sanford , from Everett and her husband who is a Chief Petty Officer with the U.S. Navy, told KIRO Radio’s Ron and Don Show on Tuesday that the Bikou-en orphanage has had to turn children away since March 11.

“They just don’t have the room and don’t have the supplies to help more kids,” Sanford said.

Listen to Rachel Belle’s Behind The Scenes Look at how a big project like this gets off the ground:
We have adopted 436 Children in Japan This is your Moment to be a World Citizen!

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436 kids without parents between the ages of 4-17 in Japan need your help. The Naval Air Facility Misawa in Japan have been working with Bikou-en orphanage for twenty years, and two former Everett residents are staying in Japan to help even though they could leave if they wanted to.

After the twin disasters of a 9.0 quake and Tsunami, the orphanage has had to turn away kids. They need the most basic of supplies, clothing and food at this point. WE HAVE TO ACT QUICKLY. THE KIDS ARE FOUR DAYS AWAY FROM RUNNING OUT OF FOOD. SUPPLIES HAVE BEEN SLOW TO GET TO JAPAN DUE TO SNOW AND DEVASTATION.

Read more about Operation Airlift Japan

 

 

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