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The Base of Community Welfare

Foreword

Keiko Kawada
“Chiiki no Chanoma” Founder

It began in 1991 when the office of “Magokoro(Heartful) Help,” a paid mutual-help group, was still operating in Sekiya, Niigata City. The service users would drop by the office and soon started to visit there on their way home from the hospital, and before long, the office became a place where the elderly, persons in wheelchairs and people with babies would gather and enjoy themselves.

While I was watching them in the office having conversations and helping one another in a warm and gentle manner, I came to know that the people would first come to meet, understand each other, get to know one another’s concerns, and thus begin to help one another. It really made sense to me, and so this inspired me to create a similar kind of place in my own community where I would live all my life. So, I went to see the chairman of our residents’ association to consult with him.

This was how we created “Yama-futatsu-no Chanoma (Living Room),” the first “Chiiki no Chanoma,” in 1997

The establishment of the Chiiki no Chanoma in Niigata City was reported by Niigata Nippo Newspaper, which allocated a big space featuring a picture of Ms. Toshiko Nozaki, the Secretary-General of the “Parents’ Home Living Room.” In 2000, the dissemination of Community Living Rooms throughout the entire Niigata Prefecture was adopted as one of the future strategies in the long-term comprehensive plan of Niigata Prefectural Government, which contributed to its growth and proliferation. At that time, I was working for the Public Corporation for Welfare. We opened a Chiiki no Chanoma in the Business Center of Postal Savings with the cooperation of the post office. We also held another one on the 2nd floor of a bus center together with the youth association of Bandai City. As such, many people and organizations cooperated with one another.

I met with Mr. Yoshiharu Shimizu in 1996 during the time he was introducing the “Bethel House” all over Japan through a video.

With his warm and acute sensitivity and insight, from the very beginning he kept in mind the Chiiki no Chanoma. He introduced our activities in many places of the country and mentioned us even in his book.

Now, having places like Chiiki no Chanoma are recognized as an effective and sure way to build a community that the society aims for, where people can feel rejuvenated and not feel indifferent, and can support one another in an effort to build communities with all-embracing care. It is with utmost pleasure that Mr. Shimizu shall introduce our activities again with his tender and profound statements.