This week the visiting students are enjoying lessons at Bellevue Children's Academy during the day. Yesterday was Day 6 of the Summer Experience and the day's chemistry lesson was illuminating for all who attended.
Tuesday's lunch was provided by I Love Sushi on Lake Bellevue.
Day 3 of the PSPCF 2013 Summer Experience was a visit to Safeco Field in downtown Seattle to see a Mariners game and tour the stadium. After the tour, the students enjoyed traditional Safeco fare while watching the game and making friends with the other Mariners fans.
Day 2 of the PSPCF Summer Experience activities included sightseeing in Seattle. The students and teachers toured several locations in the city, beginning with the University of Washington Seattle Campus before heading into downtown to visit the top of the Space Needle and have lunch at Seattle Center, followed by wandering through Kelly Park, the Waterfront and Pike Place Market.
After a full day of seeing some of Seattle's sights, the group went back across Lake Washington to spend their first night with their respective host families.
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The PSPCF Summer Experience 2013 group arrives at SeaTac
The group of students and teachers attending this year's PSP Children's Foundation Summer Experience in Seattle have arrived!
After a long trip from Japan, the group was welcomed to PSPINC's Bellevue Headquarters where they attended an orientation session and a reception with their host families and some of the program's sponsors.
![PSPCF 2013 Summer Experien...]()
Bellevue, WA (July 23, 2013)
PSP Children’s Foundation (PSPCF) is hosting eight children, who are survivors of the 2011 Tsunami in Japan, along with two teachers from Minami Sanriku-cho and Kesennuma, Miyagi, Japan that will be visiting Seattle for ten days. This is the first official program offered since the organization’s inception as a nonprofit in January 2013. PSPCF was established to provide programs and opportunities for children who are the victims of disasters. Its mission is to support children who suffered great losses in catastrophic disasters, such as the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake of 2011. One of the ways in which it does this is by sponsoring and running the Summer Experience in Seattle.
The Summer Experience program began in the summer of 2012, when Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. (PSPINC) sponsored a homestay program in Seattle, Washington for eight junior high school students and two teachers from Kesennuma and Minami Sanriku-cho. The original group of students lost parents during the Tsunami, and they touched many hearts in Seattle during their stay.
In order to continue the program, PSPINC founded PSPCF as a nonprofit organization to administer and run the Summer Experience in the coming years. The Board of Directors includes members from many businesses in Washington with ties to Japan as well as the program’s partners in Japan. Their efforts have come to fruition this week as they prepare for the arrival of this year’s group of students and teachers on July 25th, 2013.
This year’s Summer Experience will include visits to several major businesses in the Seattle Metro area as well as excursions to several attractions and classroom sessions. Host families have donated their time and opened up their homes to house the students for the duration of their stay as well.
“Last year, this program not only provided opportunities for these children but also many lifetime lessons for all who participated in this program from volunteers, host families and others who had the opportunity to be touched by these children,” said Mayumi Nakamura, President of both PSPCF and PSPINC. “We strongly believe that this year’s Summer Experience in Seattle will be equally successful in instilling hope for the future in this group of children. PSPCF believes hope is something we receive by giving it others, and we hope to continue to do so through this program and others in years to come. ”
For more information, please visit PSPCF online at www.pspchildrensfoundation.organd “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pspchildrensfoundation/.
Yesterday we had a visit from one of the 2012 Summer Experience in Seattle alums. She's back in town visiting her host family from last year, and the whole family visited the PSPINC office to have lunch with Mayumi and some of the other people who worked on the program last year. We're so happy to keep in touch with the kids who visited last year, and we can't wait for this year's group to arrive this week!
![PSPINC's 1987 Logo]()
PSPINC's 1987 Logo
PSPINC, founders of PSP Children's Foundation, turned 26 on Sunday! Founded in an apartment on Mercer Island on July 7th, 1987 by Ken Uchikura, PSPINC has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a software localization company. With a long history of community involvement, it was no surprise that they would have such a big and prolonged response to the Japanese Earthquake & Tsunami, as it affected not only the business but also directly affected PSPINC's employees and partners.
The video below was produced for PSPINC's 25th anniversary last year and details some of PSPINC's pre-PSP Children's Foundation efforts as well as more local community involvement.
PSP Children's Foundation is deep in the last rounds of making arrangements for the children who will be arriving in a few weeks. We're working hard to make sure everything runs smoothly for our visitors as well as our volunteers and host families.
![Mayumi Nakamura at the YMCA]()
Mayumi Nakamura at the YMCA
PSP Children's Foundation will be working with our local YMCA to organize a visit to the facilities for a class after the children arrive. We are grateful for this opportunity, both for the generosity behind the act and for the chance to have the kids participate in an activity on a day they'll probably need it.
PSP Children's Foundation met with Google today to go over details of a tour and lunch at the Google offices for the visiting students in this year's Summer Experience. We very much appreciate Google's generosity in hosting an event for the kids this summer. If your business would like to host a tour or other event for the students as well, please contact us at info@pspchildrensfoundation.org or call us at 425-957-0808.
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