March 2010

Donate-a-Meal Fund for Peace Announces Grant Recipients for Fiscal 2009

The executive committee of the Rissho Kosei-kai Donate-a-Meal Fund for Peace announced in March its grant recipients for fiscal 2009. Donations from Rissho Kosei-kai members as well as Japanese well-wishers reached a total of 266,531,626 Japanese yen.

The donations were collected through the organization's Donate-a-Meal Campaign, and the annual fund-raising campaign is based on the Buddhist teachings of compassion, prayer, and donation. The funds were allocated in the following nine categories: (1) poverty reduction, (2) refugee assistance, (3) education, (4) emergencies, (5) environmental protection, (6) social welfare, (7) administrative expenses, (8) miscellaneous expenditures, and (9) the reserve fund.

Last year the executive committee, stressing the theme "Respect for Life," gave priority to poverty reduction, refugee assistance, and environmental protection.

For poverty reduction, the fund allocated 117,819,920 yen to five programs, including the Campaign for Sharing Blankets with People in Africa, for shipping costs, and school lunch programs operated by the World Food Programme, which aims to reduce hunger and achieve to provide primary education for children in poor countries worldwide.

For environmental protection, the fund donated 10,162,500 yen to two projects, including programs of the Japan International Volunteer Center for sustainable agriculture and rural development in four countries, including South Africa and Cambodia, and Rissho Kosei-kai's afforestation project in Ethiopia.

For refugee assistance, the fund gave 74,524,383 yen to five projects, including JEN's humanitarian emergency aid for local reconstruction, and the Little Bags of Dreams Campaign, for its shipping costs.

For education, the fund allocated 21,554,359 yen for four projects, including scholarships for students from poor families in Bataan Province, the Philippines, and training for staff members of Japanese nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

For emergency aid, the fund donated 12,007,500 yen to aid victims of torrential rain in the Chugoku and Kyushu areas of Japan last July and earthquake victims in Indonesia last September.

Click here for "Rissho Kosei-kai Donate-a-Meal Fund for Peace Expenditures in Fiscal 2009"

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