Help for my friends in Japan

If you follow me on Twitter or are a Facebook friend, you might have noticed I recently changed my avatar to the image above. Why?

Well, my dear friend Amanda and her family are in Japan. Her husband is in the Navy and is stationed there right now. They aren’t in a mandatory evacuation area, but that time is likely coming soon. They live in Yokosuka, which is about about 90 minutes south of Tokyo.

Amanda, her husband and the girls are ok. They felt the earthquake and have felt all the aftershocks as well. They’re shaken but physically ok.

It is looking like they will be evacuating soon and may never return. They will be allowed 1 suitcase each on a return flight. They have made Japan their home and have established themselves there. And now, they may be ripped away from it.

I have been wracking my brain for a way to help. Right now, the way to help is with money. Unfortunately, I don’t have an excess of money laying around here.

They can mail things back to the US (for now) but the exchange rate is ridunkulous and there’s a limit of 2 boxes right now. It sounds like our government will get them back to the United States… but once they’re here, they’re on their own as far as lodging, travel, etc.

This is where you come in. Can you help me help my friends?

• Effective now until 11:59 p.m. CDT Sunday, March 20th, I will personally give my entire NET sales of any product at my shop at Pink Ink Studios to Amanda and her family. This is NOT a tax deductible donation for me or purchase for you. But I can assure you that I will send her 100% of my NET sales. I know this is short notice and it is the weekend, but I want/need to get money to them quickly.
• The other way you can help is by sending money via Paypal. $5, $10, $25, whatever you can spare… I will send 100% of this money to her as well. Just send the money via PayPal to amykant@gmail.com. Make sure you put in the memo that this is for Amanda’s family. Again, this is NOT a tax deductible donation. It is just a gift of love for my dear friends.
• If you can’t help out financially, please spread the word and say some prayers for my friends. They need all the love and support we can give them.

In case this helps, here’s a picture of me and Amanda’s sweet daughter Haley in 2009. Cute kids get you every time, right?