Insurer, NGO pushing Valentine's Day charity for needy people

Asian Economic News, Feb 12, 2001

TOKYO, Feb. 9 Kyodo

(EDS: PEOPLE TO PEOPLE AID'S TELEPHONE NUMBER IS 81-45-772-8363, FAX NUMBER IS 81-45-774-8075 AND E-MAIL manican@come.to VALENTINE CARD CAN BE SEEN AT http://www. angel.ne.jp/~p2aid/manican/event/pictures/valentineall.jpg)

As Valentine's Day approaches once more, female workers at Kyoei Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Co. are pushing the company's annual campaign for employees to donate the money they usually spend on chocolates for colleagues to help the needy in developing countries.

Kyoei Mutual's campaign, held to coincide with Valentine's Day on Feb. 14 and ''White Day'' one month later, is in its ninth year and has so far collected 11.5 million yen -- money which has mainly been used to help refugees in countries such as Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal.

The Tokyo-based insurer, which has a long history of donations to Africa, has extended the aid through a Japanese nongovernmental organization (NGO) to provide wells, a storehouse for medicine and blackboards, and for tree planting aimed at stopping desertification.

In the campaign, Kyoei workers wishing to make donations receive Valentine's Day and White Day cards from the campaign secretariat in exchange for a minimum of 500 yen, and then give the cards to colleagues of the opposite sex instead of the usual gifts.

Valentine's Day was introduced into Japan by a chocolate maker in 1936, but it was not until the 1960s that the peculiar practice of only women buying gifts for men took off. Women are expected to buy chocolates for their boyfriends and also some sort of ''courtesy'' chocolates for their male colleagues and bosses.

In 1980, a Japanese confectioners' association designated March 14 as White Day, an occasion for men to reciprocate by giving white chocolates, marshmallows, cookies or other gifts to women.

A Kyoei Mutual survey showed that female workers spend an average of 4,000 to 5,000 yen on gifts for colleagues. A recent trend, however, has seen more people making donations to humanitarian causes instead of buying such gifts as a mere formality.

This year, about 40 female employees are working as volunteers to promote Kyoei Mutual's campaign among the firm's 3,000 staff nationwide. The money collected will be used for afforestation projects to curb desert expansion in western Africa, company officials said.

A Yokohama-based NGO has taken a similar approach to support needy people in the Philippines on Valentine's Day.

A 15-member student unit of People to People Aid, dedicated to supporting such developing countries as India, Indonesia and the Philippines, is selling Valentine's Day cards for 200 yen to raise money for a boat for local fishermen operating in Manila Bay, which is being adversely affected by the city's industrialization.

The group has been conducting an annual study trip to the Philippines in which students stay at the fishermen's homes.

This year, the NGO has so far sold 400 cards but revenue is still short of the minimum goal of 600,000 yen needed to buy the fishing boat. The group aims to help the local fishing business which has been affected by the operations of large-scale commercial ships in the bay and also to restore mangrove trees that have been logged, a group member said.

''We want to give financial aid that will help local people stand on their own feet,'' the member said.

The group has intermittently conducted the Valentine's Day charity campaign since 1992. It is accepting orders for cards by telephone, fax and e-mail, group members said.