Monday, March 21, 2011

Over 500K Lindens Raised for Japanese Relief at “Go for Japan”

On the weekend from Saturday March 19 to Sunday Mach 20, the “Go for Japan” fundraiser took place in Gwampa's Dance Camp. Also known as the Pacific Crisis Fund Benefit Concert, the event lasted for over 40 hours involved many musicians, and raised over five hundred thousand lindens for the American Red Cross for their efforts in Japan following the recent earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country.

The event was set up at the four-corner meeting place at four sims, Pango Pango, Zeide Kamp, Gwampa Castle, and Bali Bali. The stage was set up at the Pango Pango corner with the official location of the event at Zeide Kamp (238, 241, 21), even though two other sim corners were available for the audience. Besides dancing around in the grass, one could also sit on some pillows in Bali Bali, or lie on some other pillows floating over Zide Kamp and Gwampa Castle.

There were a few dozen musicians taking part in the fundraiser. Among them were Lyn Carlberg, FunkyFreddy Republic, Lexie Luan, CraigLyons Writer, and more.

On the night of Sunday March 20, the total raised slowly crept up to the half million mark. Finally while Edward Kyomoon was playing, the total amount raised reached 500,000. The sight was greeted with applause and cheers of “Woooot!!” Edward continued to sing, and at the end told the audience, "Thanks for all your generosity, helping out the Red Cross," before handing the stage to Grif Bamaisin, the last musician of the event.

As even the most casual of news readers knows, the earthquake and tsunami wrecked enormous damage to Japan. One estimate of the economic damage puts it as 180 billion dollars. Some entire small villages were wiped out. One estimate puts the number of dead and missing at over 16,000, a toll almost always seen from a disaster striking a Third World country, not one of humankind’s most advanced societies. Curiously unlike previous disasters such as Haiti, there have been few fundraisers in real-life in comparison. With Japan having a debt more than twice the total dollar amount of it’s economy, fundraisers like “Go to Japan” will be a welcome relief.

For a link to the American Red Cross, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

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