The Asahi Shinbun published this article about the Fruit Tree Project and VolunteerAKITA on June 7th, 2011. It's only in Japanese, and can be found at http://mytown.asahi.com/areanews/akita/TKY201106060550.html.
被災地に果物贈る 秋田県内のＡＬＴが活動
秋田県内の学校で英語を教える外国語指導助手（ＡＬＴ）が、被災者にバナナやミカンなどの果物を届ける活動を続けている。ボランティアで被災地を訪れ、食生活の偏りを知ったのがきっかけだった。これまでに宮城県気仙沼市や岩手県陸前高田市で配った果物は１万５千個以上になる。
活動名は「フルーツ・ツリー・プロジェクト」。由利本荘市の小中学校で英語を教えるポール・ユーさん（２６）＝米国出身＝が４月初旬に始めた。
「食べ物は不自由しないけど、果物が食べたい」。ボランティアで訪れた気仙沼市の避難所で、被災者からこう聞いたのがきっかけだ。ご飯とみそ汁が炊き出しで提供されていたが、野菜や果物は不足がちだった。ユーさんは「胃袋は満たされても、栄養が偏れば健康じゃない」と考えた。
東日本大震災が発生した後に立ち上げた「ボランティア秋田」のホームページ（http://volunteerakita.org）でプロジェクトを紹介し、果物代の募金を始めた。
安く買うためのルート開拓もした。宮城県内や由利本荘市内の卸売業者に相談し、特別に安い価格で果物を譲ってもらえることになった。
バナナなどを大量に載せた車で、ユーさんら県内のＡＬＴ約１０人は大型連休中の４月２９日、気仙沼市の避難所を訪れた。被災者に果物を１個ずつ手渡すと、笑顔が広がった。避難所では調理することが難しいため、「バナナは皮をむくだけで食べられるので喜ばれた」と振り返る。
県内外のＡＬＴ仲間の口コミで賛同者は１００人を超え、募金活動で５月末までの２カ月で約８０万円が集まった。一緒に行動するＡＬＴのマーガレット・コッカーさん（２４）＝同＝は「果物は被災者との連帯を示す象徴になる」と話す。
<>被災地では、住宅にたまった泥の片付けも手伝う。震災から３カ月近くたっても全面復興にはまだ遠い。ユーさんは週末を中心に当面、活動を続ける予定だ。「被災した人が復興の手がかりをつかむまでは、果物を届けなくてはいけない」（大隈悠）
The project was also featured in the Japan Times (English edition). See http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20110611a2.html.
Group on a mission to deliver fresh fruit to disaster-zone shelters
Staff report
Survivors of the March 11 tsunami living in shelters need fresh fruit — this is what Minami Ishikawa and Paul Yoo from Akita Prefecture learned when they went to volunteer their time in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, in early April.
Ishikawa and Yoo talked to people at evacuation centers who told them the meals served there often consisted of a bowl of rice and miso soup but no fresh fruit or vegetables. They said they were craving such food, Yoo said.
Yoo, an assistant language teacher from the United States who teaches English at a school in Yuri Honjo, and Ishikawa, an office worker, started gathering volunteer workers right after the quake to help the evacuees in Miyagi and Iwate prefectures.
As part of their activities, they launched the Fruit Tree Project. They collected donations to buy fresh fruit and gathered volunteers — both Japanese and non-Japanese — to deliver it to evacuation centers in the tsunami-hit areas.
They started the fruit deliveries in Kesennuma during Golden Week in early May and later went to several shelters in other areas mainly over the weekends.
The project has involved more than 100 volunteers, and with support from Second Harvest Japan, a charity-based food bank in Tokyo, the group has collected more than ¥1 million in donations from all over the world. So far, they have delivered over 23,000 pieces of fruit.
"Everyone is so happy when we bring fruit to them. We want to continue bringing fruit to the shelters, especially to the small ones where people don't get any fresh fruit at all," said Yoo.
For more information about the project and to make a donation, email volunteerakita@gmail.com or visit its website at volunteerakita.wordpress.com.
The above newspaper articles are from the Asahi Shinbun and Japan Times, respectively. The pictures used in them, and the picture of the article itself, were taken by volunteerAKITA group members.
