Kansai Foodbank
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The Goal of Kozmoz Food Bank Kansai
Our goal is to promote Social Ecology thru working to assure food security for all in Kansai. By some estimates, close to 1 million people in Japan lack the ability to enjoy a nutritious balanced diet daily and a full one in seven live below the poverty line. People can and find ways to eat even when they are disadvantaged, however a diet of instant ramen and millet does not make a healthy diet, doesn't raise healthy children and doesn't make for strong minds. If we want our kids to succeed in school and we expect to have good citizens and a productive work force we need to assure that FOOD SECURITY is available to ALL. There is no more valuable resource than our children and the parents tasked with raising them to be the leaders of the future.
The History of Second Harvest Kansai and Kozmoz Food Bank Kansai
The American charity Kozmoz International has been working to promote Social Ecology in Japan since 1987. One of the projects here that we believed could make a substantial difference was Second Harvest Japan in Tokyo, and we worked hard to see it become a part of the Japanese social landscape since the year 2000. The needs in Kansai are great as well Kozmoz Japan founded Second Harvest Kansai Food Bank in 2004.
Since its founding in 2004, Kozmoz Second Harvest Kansai has sponsored food drives, and educational seminars to bring awareness of the problems of poverty and a lack of food security throughout the Kansai area. Kozmoz also sponsors food kitchens and delivers needed food products to orphanages, support centers for disabled people, churches, homeless care centers and families at public housing throughout Kansai. Kozmoz changed it's name to Kozmoz Food Bank Kansai in 2007.
Of course Kozmoz also responds to natural disasters such as the Great Northeastern Earthquake of 2011. Within hours of learning of the disaster, Kozmoz was gathering supplies and staff, outfitting trucks, and making plans to aid in relief and reconstruction. For months, Kozmoz sent supply trucks and volunteers into the disaster zone to provide relief to the stricken and support the many workers on site. Now Kozmoz works to sponsor families from the area who wish to relocate to Kansai because of loss of their homes or due to fear of raising families in the uncertainty of the radiation resulting from the Fukushima Daiichi Reactor Failure.
Kozmoz solicits food donations from supermarkets, warehouses, manufacturers and individuals through food drives. Currently, we distribute approximately 10 tons of food stuffs weekly and with the addition of our new sorting center in south Kyoto should be able to double that amount in 2014 with the help of our dedicated volunteer staff.
Kozmoz Kansai makes deliveries 365 days a year because poverty never takes a day off and neither do we!