Sonoma County Cranes for Ukraine Mission Statement
Sonoma County Cranes for Ukraine stands in solidarity with the country and people of Ukraine in their fight for peace, sovereignty and democracy. Our goals are to illuminate and keep focus on the plight of the Ukrainian people, encourage local community engagement through information and peace crane folding workshops, collect donations to directly aid the people of Ukraine, ask participants to be active in civic endorsement for Ukraine to their government representatives, use the folded cranes as symbols of peace and solidarity with the people of Ukraine. We will fold and present 1,000 cranes each for the Consulate General of Ukraine in San Francisco, and the cities and people of Cherkasy, Chyhyryn, and Kaniv (Ukrainian Sister Cities for Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, and Sonoma respectively).
The paper crane in Japanese culture symbolizes peace, compassion, hope and healing. We show our solidarity with Ukraine by using the traditional Japanese folk art of paper folding (origami) to fold paper cranes. We believe that every single act of crane folding expresses our solidarity with the people of Ukraine and will promote world peace.
Sonoma County Cranes for Ukraine is a project co-sponsored by the Sonoma County Japanese American Citizens League and three sister cities organizations in Sonoma County: Sebastopol World Friends, Sister Cities Santa Rosa-Cherkasy, and Sonoma Sister Cities Association. Sonoma County Cranes for Ukraine is also endorsed by the Interfaith Council of Sonoma County, Sonoma County-United in Kindness, and Veterans for Peace – Santa Rosa.
A unique distinction for Sonoma County is that it has three cities with sister city ties in the Ukraine. Sebastopol with Chyhyryn, Santa Rosa with Cherkasy and Sonoma with Kaniv. The three Ukrainian cities lie in the heart of Ukraine along the Dnipro River all within 80 miles of each other. This relationship gives Sonoma County a strong personal connection to the Ukrainian people.
Ways to Help
Host a Fold-In
Do you have an organization or group that would be interested in Sonoma County Cranes for Ukraine? Consider hosting one of two types of events. One is a “Fold In” where we do a program that has speakers and then an origami crane folding workshop. The other is a table event where we have a booth at a festival/fair and we do origami with anybody who is interested in folding cranes. Please Contact Ron Tajii at socojaclcommunity@gmail.com for more information.
Ways to Donate
Sebastopol World Friends
https://sebastopolwf.org/stand-with-ukraine-how-to-donate/
Sebastopol World Friends is collecting donations specifically to assist its sister city Chyhyryn in helping provide for the thousands of people fleeing from the war torn areas of the country.
Sister Cities Santa Rosa – Cherkasy
https://www.santarosarotary.com/ukrainian-aid/
Sister Cities Santa Rosa – Cherkasy is using the Santa Rosa Rotary Club to make direct donations to the city of Cherkasy, Ukraine.
Sonoma Sister Cities Association
https://givebutter.com/SisterCities_Kaniv
Sonoma County Japanese American Citizens League
Sonoma County Cranes for Ukraine Project
Please make donations directly to:
Hearts for Ukraine (Organization endorsed by KTVU 2)
https://www.heartsforukraine.us/
Or
World Central Kitchen
https://wck.org
How did the JACL get involved with Sonoma County Cranes for Ukraine?
The war in Ukraine is a horrific humanitarian crisis and caring deeply about the plight of the Ukrainian people would be enough motivation to do something, but there are a couple of other threads that tie the JACL to this project. I apologize for the long story, but… In 2018, our government began a cruel policy of separating and incarcerating families and children at the Southern US border in order to discourage immigrants from seeking asylum in the US. To protest this cruel policy, SoCoJACL partnered with an organization called Tsuru for Solidarity who recognized the same racist policies perpetrated against the Japanese American community during WWII being done to these immigrants. With the slogan “Never Again” this group organized community engagement gatherings called “Fold-Ins”, where they would educate attendees about the plight of these immigrants. At these meetings, we would fold paper “peace cranes’ which would be displayed at protests at immigration detention facilities as a symbolic gesture of solidarity with the immigrants. SoCoJACL began planning a number (12) of “Fold-Ins” in the beginning of 2020 with support from the Interfaith Council of Sonoma County and Sonoma County-United in Kindness. Then COVID hit and all fold-ins were canceled. With a change in administration and changes in immigration policies, and while policies are still not perfect, there was no longer a compelling need to reschedule the fold-ins. Come to today, Laurie Hogan, member at St Patrick’s Episcopal Church, reached out to the SoCoJACL and expressed her distress over Ukraine and liked the idea and symbolism of folding peace cranes for Ukraine and wondered if we could do a fold-in workshop. Thus “Sonoma County Cranes for Ukraine” was born. We have partnered with all three Sonoma County sister city organizations which uniquely have relationships with three cities in the Ukraine. First with Sebastopol World Friends, which has the Sister City of Chycyryn, Ukraine (one of the SoCoJACL board members is also on the Sebastopol World Friends). Then, we partnered with Sister Cities Santa Rosa-Cherkasy and Sonoma Sister Cities Association which have the Ukrainian sister cities, Cherkasy and Kaniv respectively. The relationship Sonoma County Cranes for Ukraine has with these three Sister City organizations provides a strong personal connection to the Ukrainian people.
Other Related Links
Sonoma County’s unique connection with Ukraine
Two Sebastopol neighbors, John Namkung and David Schneider, recently traveled to Poland and Ukraine, where they helped transport families from the Polish/Ukrainian border to cities in Poland. They were featured in an April 2022 Press Democrat article at: https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/sebastopol-neighbors-went-extra-miles-to-help-ukrainian-refugees/