College Designer Helps Raise money for Japan Earthquake Relief
Loyola Marymount University design student designs T-shirts to raise money for Red Cross efforts in Japan
Robert Follmer, a 26-year-old senior at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He is from Crystal Lake and spent about a year-and-a-half in Japan. So far he has raised $7,000 through T-shirt sales to help fund relief efforts for Japan.
What started out as a vacation in Japan turned into much more for a then-23-year-old from Crystal Lake.
"I initially just went there on vacation but fell in love with the culture and people and felt a sense of belonging," said Robert Follmer, now 26. "So I enrolled in a university there in order to get a visa. I intended on completing my university studies there, but it was ultimately too difficult to live so far away from family."
After a year-and-a-half of studying and working freelance graphic design jobs while attending Temple University in Tokyo, Follmer returned to the U.S. and is continuing his studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he is a senior.
But now that the country that gave him so much has been torn apart by recent natural disasters, Follmer decided that it was time for him to give back.
To raise money for relief efforts, Follmer designed T-shirts to be sold on his graphic design company's website for $25 each. After the earthquake and resulting tsunami hit the island nation Friday, Follmer said he spent the rest of the weekend organizing his fundraiser.
All money earned from T-shirt sales will go toward the Red Cross' efforts to provide relief to Japan. Follmer said that the Red Cross was the inspiration for his T-shirt design.
"I tried to incorporate the Red Cross logo into the design, because it's an international symbol for compassion," Follmer said.
So far, Follmer estimated that he has raised $7,000, and he hopes to raise $25,000 by the end of the week.
He has received donations not only from fellow Americans, but from people from other countries, including Spain and Japan.
"It just shows that people are really compassionate, and it's so heartwarming that individuals are wanting to reach out by buying T-shirts," Follmer said. "They don't realize how much impact that makes."
The cause is near and dear to Follmer's heart not just because of his love of the country, but also because he still has many friends in Japan. He said that he was able to confirm that many of them are safe via Facebook, but still had not heard from one friend living on the coast just south of the affected area.
"All we can do at this point is pray," Follmer said.
Also in the fray of the Japanese turmoil was Follmer's mother, who is a flight attendant for American Airlines. Follmer's father, Bob Follmer, said that his wife, Deanna, had been in Japan since Sunday and returned home safely Tuesday night.
"I was a wreck the entire time she was there," Follmer said. "I couldn't rest knowing she was going to be there."
To order one of Robert Follmer's T-shirts to help raise money for Japanese relief efforts by the Red Cross, visit www.m3diya.bigcartel.com."
Questions and Answers
As we all are well-informed of the destruction in Japan following Friday earthquake extends to increase. Thus, companies from all the subdivisions are finding an easy way to contribute the people looking for help in Japan. The Red Cross is once again leading the way of contribution and help to those who need rescue and are affected badly by this natural disaster in Japan. Nevertheless, in the previous times it had been a very hard to process the contributing to this aid organization.
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