Hands On Tokyo Youth Impact Project

Thank you for your generous support of our youth volunteers. The newly minted Hands On Tokyo Youth Impact project for college and high school students is continuing to grow within our organization.

 The goal of the Youth Impact project has always been to empower students to become change agents in Tokyo. Staff and board members` aspiration is to give youth the resources and support they need in order to achieve their visions. Whether that be leading an English lesson for vulnerable children or working on promoting our organization to fellow students, we invite college and high schoolers to challenge themselves and create solutions and goals on their own.

 Hands On Tokyo is, simply put, the bouncing board for students to realize their own potential. We have been fortunate that our youth volunteers have taken full advantage of our faith in them and pursued multiple trajectories. The primary three primary goals we, staff and youth volunteers, have decided upon are as follows:

 -       Becoming leaders at projects and creating project plans

-       Occupying leadership positions within the peer group

-       Promoting the youth impact project and reaching out to potential partner schools.

 Throughout the summer season, our high school students have taken time to attend a variety of community projects. They have primarily focused on giving English lessons to special needs and vulnerable children. Projects with special needs children or those who have been abused or neglected can be very tedious. We must always consider potential tantrums and be careful not to trigger any painful memories or feelings of the children. The high schools students have treated the children with a gentleness and patience beyond their years. I think of the time a high school student was able to simultaneously soothe and guide an Autistic child through an English lesson. I remember the joy on the child`s face when she felt as though she had mastered the material.

 I think of the ingenuity of our high school interns in June who created a special robotics English lesson. Despite any feelings of self-doubt and hiccups along the way, they remained engaged with the students. They were able to teach them the basic make-up of a solar panel car. I think of one of our new high school member sitting with an elementary school who was, at first, too shy to produce a full English sentence. After two hours though, she could confidently say, ` the dog is brown and black` and create full sentences. These are just a few stories out of many. Hands On Tokyo staff are looking forward to continuing to witness this maturity and awareness in our youth volunteers.

 Finally our students have thought of a variety of ways to promote the Youth Impact program and reach as many new potential partners and sponsors.

 It is essential that the Youth Impact Program grow at an appropriate speed. In order to maintain our membership and connect with new ones, college and high school students have divvied up responsibilities amongst themselves. For example, one of our college students created an Instagram account to help us to promote; please follow us at youthimpact_handsontokyo to catch a glimpse of what we do. Another university student is creating a new logo for the youth impact program.

 Our high school students have also voted for their own leadership: a president, vice president, and two secretaries. They will help guide our high school students this year, and also act as a communicators between the Hands On Tokyo office and students. From September and onward, they are organizing times where we can give presentations at their schools, and hopefully, create new membership.

 We are also planning a student led mixer on October 28^th. This four hour event will not only promote our organization and causes, but also establish a mentoring program. College students will groom high school students to take on leadership roles at community projects. The college students will also help high students plan their future.

 There are so many ventures Hands On Tokyo is excited to pursue this fall. It has not been easy communicating across 10 schools, but everyone has risen to the challenge and solidified their commitment to us and each other. Thank you for your past investment in our youth volunteers. These improvements would not have been possible without you.

 At this crucial time of growth, we would like to encourage you to consider a donation. Be a part of helping students create positive change in Tokyo.

 Hands On Tokyo is more than hopeful for the amelioration of the Youth Impact program. We are confident that the youth impact project will nurture deeper ties with individuals in need and fellow students in the Tokyo area. Being a bystander and waiting for things to happen is not a part of our youth volunteers` mentality; they are actively finding ways to improve themselves and this Youth Impact program. We hope we can continue to prove ourselves worthy of your investment and faith in us.

Thank you for your generous support of our youth volunteers. We believe that the volunteers have proven themselves worthy of your investment and we are proud of what they have accomplished four months into the new year. At the beginning of 2017, Hands On Tokyo made a promise to our donors to grow and expand the reach of our youth volunteerism program, and we are excited to share with you several ameliorations in this report.

 Hands On Tokyo staff have put a great deal of time and thought into evaluating best methods to gain traction with college and teen students through monthly meetings with them. We have used the monthly reunions as a way to hear their input and implementing the ideas they have. As a result, the youth volunteers are beginning to define their own unique Hands On Tokyo identity.

 Our teen board continues to prove their presence at Hands On Tokyo. On multiple occasions, they have taken the initiative to organize their own projects and also recruit volunteers from their schools to participate.

 On February 4^th, The teen board put together a fundraiser at the Kanto Festival. Selling chili, they were able to raise 6,000 yen to be used for various projects in Tokyo. Furthermore, On April 23^rd, Hands On Tokyo collaborated with Fujisawa based NPO, Soleil de Provence, to carry out a beach cleaning project at Higashihama beach. This project was subsidized with Global Giving donations, ensuring that as many teen volunteers were able to join the event and Hands On Tokyo was also able to make a contribution to Soleil de Provence. 22 students representing three international high schools joined the event, including our newest addition to the team, the British School in Tokyo. A total of 135kg was collected from the beach, including 43 bags of non-burnable and 32 burnable trash. This was Hands On Tokyo`s first time collaborating with this NPO. As a result of the strong impression our teen Hands On Tokyo volunteers made on Soleil de Provence, we will continue to collaborate and participate in projects with the NPO. We are also proud to announce that newest youth volunteerism project: the College Board.

 Thus far, we have four universities represented on the board: Waseda University, Keio University, Sophia University, and the International Christian University. Even though the college students are just getting started, two college members from ICU have already begun leading two of our community projects, bowling with mentally handicapped individuals and running with blind joggers. Another volunteer from Waseda has helped with Koko Club, a community project that teaches English to students with varying degrees of blindness. The Global Giving funds have subsidized the travel expenses of our college board members, making it possible for them to attend as many projects as possible and perform their leadership duties. Now that the college students have gotten started with the academic year and have been able to solidify their schedules, we are hoping that they can continue to make meaningful contributions to our community projects.

 Despite hectic schedules, balancing part time jobs and school work, and coming from different schools, our teen and college board members remain committed to our organization and to one another. We are grateful for their time, but most of all to you, our supporters.

 We want to thank you for believing in our youth leadership program; you are directly funding the teen and college members` ability to work with us without any costs. We are looking forward to seeing what they can accomplish over the summer, as well as Hands On Tokyo staff going to the schools to promote this program.

 We hope that you will consider donating again to this cause. Thank you for your support, and we hope we can fulfill your expectations.