I have a small stand every two weeks at a local market that focuses on regional and local product. I wasn't there for a month as I had corona three weeks ago. During quarantine, I was wondering I can collect donation to support people from Ukraine at my stand. One of my ideas is to give away seeds: Seedonation 🌼
I put Shiso, Calendula, Marigold seeds in glass jars and left them on a table with small envelopes and a pen. All the seeds are collected by me and my daughter last year.
Calendula
Not only calendula flowers attracts beneficial insects and add color to garden, the flower petals can be used as tea, to make infused oil and balsam. We picked the seeds from tea and plants in raised bed in front of the market where I have my stand. I planted the plant last year by myself.
Marigold
Marigold is one of the most popular companion plants in spring/summer garden. We picked the seeds at a public park in city of Zwickau last autumn.
Shiso
We Japanese cannot live summer time without Shiso ... it can be exaggerated but I must say it is a really popular herb in Japan. I introduced it two years ago at the market. Both Shiso plants and syrup made out of it were well received. I applied for the state support money to produce the syrup in a larger scale last year. In the end of the season, the plants I got from a local farm had seeds 🙌 I collected them with my daughter 😊
So all are seeds with good old memory from last year. I was proud on giving them away for donation.
In addition to seeds we distributed our shopping bags for donation. We got refund for the bags as some of their handles are unbelievably twisted ...
Initially I was worrying that my action could be too political because it seemed not so many people were interested in the Seedonation table. But after the market was over, I found 60.40 EUR donation in the box!
I asked my partner to find a humanitarian organization to send the money. He is good in this as he had charitable projects before. I added some from my sales yesterday and we decided to donate 100 EUR to Mission Lifeline in Dresden, which is in the same state.
Hilfe für Menschen in der Ukraine - Mission Lifeline
I have arranged SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) transfer yesterday after I came back from the market. So it'll be processed next week.
Thank you for people who donated money, my partner who encourage me to do the action and helped me find Mission Lifeline, and my daughter who helped me to collect seeds last year!
三週間前にコロナウィルスに感染して、隔離生活を送りながらロシアのウクライナ侵攻を目の当たりにしていました。何かできないかと考えていて、一度、ポーランドの子どもを支援している団体に寄付をしました。
たくさんの人の力を借りるともっとたくさん寄付ができるかもしれません。二週間に一度出店している地元のマーケットで種を配って寄付を集めることを思いつきました。去年集めたいい種がたくさん手元にあるので！
当初マーケットに政治的な話を持ち込むのはよくないかなと少し迷いましたが、ものは試し、なんでもやってみようということで相方にも背中を押されて、種＆寄付（Seed + Donation = Seedonation）のテーブルを設けてみました。最近作って、縫製に問題のあって返金を受けたエコバッグも問題の少ないものを一緒に寄付ベースで配りました。
マーケットが終わって寄付を数えてみると60.40ユーロ（約8000円）が集まりました。ここに私のスタンドでの売り上げの一部を足して100ユーロにして（約13200円）同じ州のMission Lifelineという組織のウクライナの人たちの非難を助けるプロジェクトに寄付することにしました。
Hilfe für Menschen in der Ukraine - Mission Lifeline
銀行引き落としでの処理を手配したので来週銀行が開いたら処理されることでしょう。
寄付してくださったみなさん、応援してくれた相方、タネを一緒に拾ってくれた子どもに感謝です！少しでも苦しい立場にいる人たちの助けになりますように。
