La Carmina’s Diary: Fundraising with LA friends for the Japan earthquake & tsunami victims.
Friday, April 1st, 2011 by La Carmina
Japan is ground zero for my work (in writing and TV hosting) and some of my closest friends. So it’s been personally devastating to see the crisis unfold after the 9.0 earthquake and and tsunami.
There’s only one thing on my mind: taking action for the sake of the victims. Sebastiano Serafini got on a flight to Los Angeles, and we immediately set our minds on how to help Japan.
Every single day, we have been sponsoring events and collecting donations, in Los Angeles. Here’s a diary of our charity work (with more photos and reports on La Carmina blog). We hope you’ll join us in helping Japan recover.
March 15: Mr Black club organizer Luke Nero and hostess Lenora Claire inviting us to set up a donation table at their Tuesday night party. We collected funds for Doctors Without Borders, and posed with the Japan flag with musicians Bishi and Semi Precious Weapons.
CLICK for more photos from Mr. Black
March 16: Band Black Veil Brides was in Tokyo when the earthquake hit. Despite the constant aftershocks, they still put on a show that night and made it back to LA safe. The group is keen to support Japan’s recovery, so I interviewed Ashley Purdy about their earthquake experience for Huffington Post.
CLICK for the full interview and more Black Veil Brides photos
March 17: Since we were hosting many nonprofit events, we decided to make a visual statement… by dying our hair red, in support of Japan! Our friends at Toni & Guy, who also styled us for the NOH8 campaign, generously did our hair for the charitable cause. (All week long, I’ve been rocking my Lip Service Dark Delphina jacket, pictured above!)
CLICK for more red hair photos
March 18: Seba and La Carmina sponsored the Q Pop art auction for Japan in Little Tokyo. There was a terrific turnout and colorful crowd, as well as musical performances. All proceeds from the sale of the artwork (from artists like Junko Mizuno) went to select local hospitals, shelters, and relief groups in all affected areas in Japan.
CLICK for a full report of the Q Pop fundraiser
March 19: We teamed up to sponsor an art benefit. It was awesome to see readers come to the events — we always love meeting you!
CLICK for more art & fashion event pics
Liz from LA Weekly interviewed La Carmina and Sebastiano about their experiences with the Japan earthquake, and the efforts we’ve been making to raise funds and awareness. The article and 33-photo slideshow are posted here.
Our work for Japan has only begun. Sebastiano co-founded the Hope project with Like Atmosphere (a Japanese fashion brand he models for). He will be the main model for a line of t-shirts, with proceeds going to the victims of the Japanese tsunami and earthquake. La Carmina and Seba are the inspiration for the t-shirt above, designed by Alice and the Cat. The charity shirts will be available for sale soon; please check back to be the first to know.
Thanks to everyone who has shared their stories with me. It’s going to be a long and hard road to recovery, and Japan needs all the support it can get. So let’s pitch in and keep the momentum going.
For more info about how to help Japan, please visit La Carmina blog.
