Disaster alters student’s Spring Break plans

Rona Luong had different plans for Spring Break prior to March 11.

But when the earthquake and subsequent tsunami devastated many parts of Japan, the young lady who grew up in Fort Smith was — like millions around the planet — pulled in a different direction.

The March 11 Japanese earthquake and tsunami destroyed an estimated 125,000 buildings, left about 4.4 million households without electricity and about 1.5 million households without water. The cost to rebuild is estimated by some to be around $500 billion. That total is likely to grow as workers detail the damage.

What can’t be replaced by money are the more than 12,000 reported deaths. That number also will grow, with almost 17,000 people reported missing.

“I felt for those lives that were lost. I wanted to wear something to support the country as they try to overcome such devastation. Mainly, I wore the shirt in memory of the lives that were lost,” said Luong, who now lives in Fayetteville and is a student at Northwest Arkansas Community College and plans to attend the University of Arkansas in the fall.

Her initial idea was simple. Have a friend, Young Baiik, design a t-shirt with the words “Hope for Japan.” She then posted her picture wearing the t-shirt on Facebook. That was when her Spring Break plans changed.

“After wearing it and posting a picture on Facebook, I got so many requests for the shirts within just an hour of the post. That gave me an idea to create shirts and increase the price to where the rest would go to Red Cross. Young Baiik gave me a discount because she was very happy about what I was doing,” Luong explained.

She also is donating some of the money to UNICEF.

She created a new Facebook event page to promote the shirts. She expected a few orders, but within three days, she received 60 orders. Her initial goal of raising $100 quickly grew to $500. And then $1,000.

“I was overwhelmed but it was a great feeling. It was hard and time consuming because I wasn’t prepared for it. I finally got together a team of friends. Without them, things may not have run too smoothly,” Luong said. “I am planning on continuing for another week so there is a good chance that I may raise over $1,000. That is my new goal. Many people have also donated more then they needed for a shirt.”

Luong and several of her friends spent Spring Break collecting t-shirts, sorting, bagging, organizing and “running errands every day” between Fayetteville and Fort Smith.

“Although I was busy, this has been one of the best spring break I ever had. I had such a great time and it feels good that my time was spent for a good cause. I never looked for credit or anything at all, I just want to simply support and show that I and all of us believe that their is Hope for everyone, and Hope for the people affected by the earthquake and tsunami,” Luong said. (Indeed, she did not seek credit. This story was written after a member of The City Wire staff happened upon the group at Sweet Bay-Creekmore Park in Fort Smith and asked about the flurry of activity around the t-shirts.)

Luong, who plans to seek a degree in hospitality/hotel management/event coordinator and minor in health science, knows something about finding hope in other places. Her parents moved to Fort Smith from Laos in 1985. She was born a year later.

She knows the money she raises may be small in comparison to the need, but her focus was and continues to be more focused on remembering the dead.

“Remember, you can rebuild a country, but you cannot bring back the lives that were lost. Wear your shirt in their memory,” she noted in an e-mail exchange.

There are thousands of groups and individuals around the world helping the people of Japan recover. A technolog post at MSNBC.com provides a comprehensive list of groups accepting donation for their direct work in Japan.

Also, Rotary Club International created the “Rotary Japan 2011 Disaster Recovery Fund.” More than $500,000 has been donated between Mar. 11-25, and the fund will continue to accept donations for many weeks, if not months.