Syracuse University students launch local Project Paper Crane campaign for Japan relief

On March 11, a massive earthquake initiated a tragic sequence of events in Japan that has led to more than 27,600 dead or missing, 173,200 homeless and hundreds of thousands more without adequate access to water, food or electricity. Syracuse University students are engaging the world and putting Scholarship in Action to raise awareness and provide fundraising support for Japan by creating Project Paper Crane in Syracuse.  

The mission is to raise awareness and funds through an installation on the Schine/Newhouse lawn (located between the Schine Student Center and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications).  For every $2 students contribute, Project Paper Crane will construct an orange crane and add it to the growing installation.  The goal is to raise $14,000 within the student body, and produce 7,000 paper cranes. 

The SU alumni community is being asked to match student participation with donations of $2 or more—one donation for every crane—with 100 percent of all donations going directly to the Japan Societies Earthquake Relief Fund. 

On April 25, SU and the orange cranes will join the global community as part of a 100,000 crane installation organized by Students Rebuild.  For every crane Students Rebuild receives, a third $2 donation will be triggered, this time to Architecture for Humanity, courtesy of The Bezos Family Foundation.  

This fundraising effort was organized by Syracuse University School of Architecture students and supported by the Japan Society, Students Rebuild and the following student organizations: Asian Students in American, Japan Club, Chinese Student and Scholar Association, Global China Connection, Hong Kong Cultural Organization, Korean American Student Association and Taiwan Connection. 

Participating professional/special interest clubs include Work In Asia, American Institute of Architecture Students, Architecture Student Organization, Society of Multicultural Architects and Designers, Graduate Architecture Students; participating Greek organizations include Sigma Chi, Nu Alpha Phi and Kappa Phi Lambda. 

To learn more about this effort, including a drawing, an art auction in Manhattan and a reception at SU’s Slocum Hall, visit http://sucrane.wordpress.com, and follow the project on Twitter: supapercrane. For questions, contact sucrane@gmail.com.