Thanking our friends in Japan

We want to send some PEPY love out to our supporters in the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Program. Coming from various countries around the world, “JETs” work in Japan for one to five years teaching English. Both former and current JETs have close relationships with PEPY, with ties going back to PEPY’s beginnings: the very first fundraising PEPY bike ride was made up of JETs!
Today, many JETs actively support “Promoting Education, Empowering Youth” in Cambodia by spreading the word about PEPY in their communities. Every year they also organize events to raise funds for PEPY programs. And they are having fun doing it: among the most popular events are the fundraising bicycle rides that happen in some of Japan’s most beautiful locations. This spring JETs in Tottori, Imabari, and Himeji, Japan, organized three more rides, with many supporters showing up and joining in. Thanks to Daniel Pruitt, Emily Lemmon, Mark Schneider, Mark Fujishige, Anne Smith, and all the 2012 participants for making this happen.
Additionally, PEPY is thrilled to be featured in two articles written by JETs for their national monthly journal, AJET Connect. Emily Lemmon wrote about volunteering at a past fundraising bike ride in the November 2011 issue, and in the December 2011 issue, Simon Shone wrote about fundraising for PEPY through a trip with our social enterprise partner, PEPY Tours. Thank you Emily and Simon for further spreading the word about PEPY.
Finally, we want to again recognize Anne Smith of Akita prefecture for her two years as the head of the PEPY Special Interest Group for JETs. She has volunteered to connect hundreds of JETs with PEPY information, helped answer any questions that fundraising event organizers had, organized PEPY booths at nationwide JET conferences, and has been an all-around champion for PEPY. This is her last year in Japan, so she is now in the process of looking for an energetic successor. While we are sad to see her go, we’ll always be deeply appreciative of the hard work she put in for the sake of education in Cambodia.
We are very thankful for our friends in Japan and encouraged by the efforts they make in support of PEPY. Arigatou gozaimasu!