The Origami Forum

Hi

I wish to gain the views of the origami community on a forthcoming project I would like to set up. Basically, I would like to promote the use of origami to benefit what would be considered worthwhile causes and to this affect I would like to initially collate ideas and suggestions as to how origami could be used for just such a purpose.

After that, I have vague notions of setting up a forum, possibly in Yahoo groups or creating a website, possibly called origami4charity.org to discuss, promote, encourage practical ways in which origami could be used to help needy or worthwhile causes and initiatives.

I welcome your comments, ideas or suggestions on the potential of setting up such a project and / or contributions of further ways in which origami could benefit worthwhile causes

As a starter for ten, I list below some ideas in their briefest form that could be used to potentially benefit worthwhile causes. For more a detailed explanation of each idea, please visit http://www.geocities.com/mikebr2007/origami4charity.htm

- Contact peace organisations to see whether they can make use of origami peace symbols in a campaign e.g. http://www.peacedirect.org

- Write to sick children and include an origami model in the letter to make them smile eg http://www.postpals.co.uk

- Hand out origami hearts to hospital patients, who do not have any friends or relatives to visit them, with an accompanying message ‘Thinking of You’.

- Get celebrities to autograph an origami model that has a particular association with that personality e.g. a guitar for Bruce Springstein. Any monies raised through its site to go to charity.

- Support a particular worthy cause? Make an origami model, write the aims of that cause on the model and leave in a public place to increase awareness of that cause.

- Contact your local blind organisation and offer to run origami classes for the visually impaired.

- Locate a food shelter at Christmas time and offer to hand out to homeless people, origami Santas with an accompanying message ‘Merry Christmas’.

- Participate in a shoebox appeal which collect goodies for needy children and collates them in shoeboxes. Insert an origami model in the box. eg. http://www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk/

- As a Westerner on holiday in 3rd world countries, hand out little origami action models to kids. Will bring a smile to their faces.

- Offer your origami making services to charities via http://www.goodwillgallery.co.uk/freech ... rvices.htm

- Contact Japanese restaurants to see if they would like gimicky origami models placed at each of their tables. Charge for the service with any monies raised going to charity.

- Make some origami football/rugby shirts and shorts. Get a whole team to sign an individual shirt. Any monies raised through this sale to go to charity.

- Participate in the origami whale project to campaign against the slaughter of whales http://www.peggy-oki.com/cu_origami.html

- Make some seasonal origami models eg Valentines hearts for Valentines Day and sell them, perhaps on Ebay. Any monies raised to go to charity.

- Make some beautiful origami ornaments and offer them to charity shops for free so that they can be sold to raise money for that charity.

- Make some models to give to vendors of the Big Issue so that they can give these away for free with every purchase of the magazine, in the hope it will increase their sales.

Mike

That sounds like an amazing idea! Origami is appreciated by anyone who recieves it as a gift, and I'm sure that lonely people would be very happy to have a model brighten up their day.

About putting origami in public places, I think that the larger the better. The models should also represent the cause, e.g. A crane with "our world deserves peace" written on it.

Great ideas!

Thanks for your response. If you don't mind, I'd like to weave your suggestions into my list. Hope that's OK.

Feel free!

Just letting people know that I have now updated my Origami4Charity (O4C) project and added over 60 ways/suggestions in which origami could be used to benefit worthy causes.

At this point, I’m just wondering that if anybody knows anybody who knows somebody in an origami club or organisation that is looking for an activity to pursue, then they might want to consider some of the suggestions listed on my O4C project as a starter for 10.

If anybody knows any more origami related ideas that have the potential to benefit worthy causes, then I’d be grateful to hear from you.

I have changed web addresses since my last post, so my O4C project can now be found here http://webspace.webring.com/people/gn/n ... harity.htm

Hope you find the ideas on my O4C page to be useful.

This is a wonderful initiative!

I have a little experience in web design (check out this website), and I'm glad to help with the creation of a website! I'll bet you some web host would be willing to donate some space and a domain name to our cause.

And an idea:

Create a service where people send us a box of supplies for the needy, and we send their box back with a high-quality origami piece in it.

Thanks for your kind words.

To put you in the picture about a website, I was made aware that the BOS might have been interested in including this project on their website. Unfortunately, nothing came of it.

For the time being, I'm going to keep the project as a page on my own website - unless of course you or somebody else would like to develop something a bit more. Consider it an open source project for anybody to chip in or make something of it.

As promotion for this project goes, I occasionally mention it in forums around the world, but judging by the number of visitors I get to the project page, there does not seem to be much of an interest in it. Of course, this could be down to my own incorrect promotion of the project itself, the layout of the project webpage itself or just that not many people are interested in using origami to benefit worthy causes. Who knows.

On another subject, I would like to include the idea of yours in to my project. Let me know if that's OK.

There are a group of college kids called 'TheSpeedGamers' who play video game marathons and raise money for various charities. The just live stream the game series they are playing while individuals commentate the event while interacting with the chatting audience.

I think this could be a great simple way for the Origami Community to do some help. If gamers can raise over $60,000 in a week by playing video games and talking, there is no reason Origamist can't do the same by performing a style of art and teaching others that style.

From Website: "To this affect, I list below some suggestions to put origami to more charitable practical use in the hope that it may inspire you, the reader, to take your hobby in a new and maybe more rewarding direction."

I think this may sum up the problem you've been having. Don't get me wrong, the list is great, very descriptive and inspiring. But it seems like most of it is only truly useful for people who are looking for ideas to organize their own events. Unfortunately, the casual web surfer doesn't have the gusto to jump up from their chair and take initiative, even if it's to change the world for ever.

If you want to create more interest, I would consider, in addition to giving people ideas to start their own origami-based fundraisers, to offer an ongoing, easy to manage service that would require less work for the donators, eg my idea.

Feel free to put my idea on there!

ArmyTim - Thanks for your idea. I'll incorporate that one in to my list, if that's OK with you.

! - thanks for the constructive criticism. My project was really intended to be just a list of ideas/suggestions so that fellow origamists could be inspired perhaps to maybe do something about them. However, I take your point and I believe there is some merit in making my project more interactive and user friendly.
I'll definetely look into this, but time is always a pressing isue with me. That said though, I think your idea could be pursued further as well as others that I have recently thought of. Don't expect to see anything soon though, as these things take time to set up.

Feel free! although, I wouldn't label it as my idea.