JETAA Chicago is pleased to support this event by the Japan America Society of Chicago , in which they continue to honor and bring awareness to the events surrounding March 11, 2011.
About this event
Andy will speak about Taylor's love for Japan and how her family learned that love from her, the strong response of JETs who considered Japan their second home, and the founding of the Taylor Anderson Memorial Fund and it's activities since 2011.
The Japan America Society of Chicago continues to commemorate and keep all of those affected by March 11, 2011, in our thoughts and prayers.
About the speaker
Leroy (Andy) L. Anderson, III served as President and Treasurer of the Board of Millwood School, and has been a board member of the Manchester YMCA since the mid-90s where he sponsored the Pella Virginia Skate Park, The Anderson Family Welcome Center in Honor of Taylor Anderson and chaired Annual Giving and capital campaigns. He also serves as Treasurer of the Japan Virginia Society and is Co-Chair with Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki of the Taylor Anderson Memorial Fund.
Taylor was a JET (Japan Exchange Teaching) Programme teacher when she perished in the March, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The Taylor Anderson Memorial Fund was founded in Taylor's honor by Andy, Jean, Julia and Jeff with the help of Taylor's high school alma mater, St. Catherine's School. The fund, with the advent of Toho-Towa's promotion of the film (www.thetaylorandersonstory.com) registered as a Japanese NPO (www.tamf.jp). The initial board meeting of the fund was in December, 2013 in Tokyo.
The purpose of the Taylor Anderson Memorial Fund is to help students, schools and families in the Ishinomaki area recover from the earthquake and tsunami; as Taylor's family and the board of director's expects, Taylor would have wanted. Also, to pursue Taylor's dream of being a bridge between the U.S. and Japan. The fund continues to work in Ishinomaki with the 24th "Taylor Anderson Reading Corner" just completed.