Origami Cranes support victims from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan

The students of Blue Ridge School District are doing their part to help the victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. For the past two weeks, they have been folding dozens of origami cranes as part of relief efforts organized by Students Rebuild and Carter’s clothing company. Students Rebuild challenged young people to send in 100,000 cranes to trigger a $200,000 donation from the Bezos Family Foundation. The money will go to Architecture for Humanity's reconstruction efforts in Japan, and the cranes will be woven into an art installation. The 100,000 crane goal has already been surpassed, and submissions are still being accepted until April 15. In another project, Carter’s will be donating one article of clothing for every crane they receive. Carter’s will donate up to 50,000 articles of clothing, and will send the cranes to their stores in Japan to display the support of the children who made them. Blue Ridge’s participation in these efforts has been spearheaded by elementary librarian Janelle Tench, who got the idea from Do Something.org, which is one of the largest organizations in the U.S. that helps young people rock causes they care about. Tench says that the project has empowered students’ to recognize the need to do something, believe in their ability to get it done, and then realize that they can take action to make a difference in the world. Students in the high school gifted program have also been making cranes during their enrichment time. In total, Blue Ridge students have contributed 172 cranes to the relief efforts. Caption for the picture: Luis Toban, Allyssa Johnson, Micah Mullen, and Kyra Powell from Miss Daniels' fourth grade class, holding the paper cranes they made to contribute to the relief efforts in Japan.