Friendship Bank
What is the Kobe Marathon Friendship Bank?
Applying the lessons and experience of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, the Kobe Marathon established a Friendship Bank to provide a range of personnel, material and financial aid to disaster-hit areas in Japan and abroad.
To reinforce the bank’s resources in this event and various related planning, we are aiming to make this a citizens’ marathon event that will generate general support for areas affected by natural disasters.
| Personnel Aid | In collaboration with the Hyogo Volunteer Plaza, we are calling for volunteers to register in the Nojigiku* Voluntary Network in an effort to provide ongoing participation in voluntary activities in broad-based events and in the region. Registrants will regularly receive the Nojigiku V-News, an email magazine containing various volunteer information and will be invited to participate in events as volunteers. If you are interested in volunteer activities, please take the time to visit the URL below. → Hyogo Volunteer Plaza http://www.hyogo-vplaza.jp/ *Nojigiku is the prefectural flower of Hyogo. |
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| Material Aid | Left-over T-shirts, towels and other items created for the event are saved and stored at the Friendship Bank. At the start point of the event, we will set up a Friendship Bank Collection Box to receive unwanted clothing from runners on Marathon Day. Any clothing or other items received will be cleaned, stored and sent on to disaster-affected areas in Japan and overseas or to developing countries. |
| Financial Aid | A range of charity programs are planned, starting with the donation of a portion of the entry fee (Marathon: ¥100, Quarter Marathon: ¥50) to charity, the sale of charity goods and official goods, and the establishment of donation boxes. The funds collected will be used to support areas affected by disaster. |