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DKG Practice/Program

DKG chapter, Alpha Chapter, was formed in Japan. She knew Fusa
Nakagawa, who had been Japan State Organization’s first president,
and gave me her email. Fusa gave me the name and email of the
current president, Paula Fabian. I contacted her and asked if there
was any way our cranes could get to Hiroshima. She assured me that
was a positive possibility, as Japan’s second chapter, Beta Chapter,
was located in that city!
Then I wondered if we could create a white crane with the DKGCA
logo on it. I called Jan McKinnon, my go-to art lady, and asked her if
it was possible. She texted back in an hour or so with a cool sample.
I emailed Paula and asked her if she would like some white cranes
with DKGCA logos mixed in with the beautiful origami cranes. She
was excited, because she wanted to host a public relations event with
print and TV resources to introduce DKG to the general populace;
including the cranes would be an ideal way to emphasize that DKG
is an international society! I then wondered whether we would be
allowed to use the logo. A quick contact with DKG International
President Debbie LeBlanc confirmed that use of the logo would not
Beta Chapter President Yasuko violate the Society’s copyright rules.
Kita at hotel with origami cranes in As February 22, the date of our area conference, crept closer,
Hiroshima. I prepared background information on the Hiroshima Peace Park

to share with our members. One member, Kim De Benedetto, had
recently returned from Japan with wonderful pictures of the Memorial Park. While I was handling the
logistics, Kathy Ellis, my co-chair, found Kasue Kendrick and Etsuko Brodnick, members of a local
origami group. They were very qualified instructors and
agreed to present the Crane Folding Project. February 22
arrived, and we greeted 90 members and guests, including
guest folding tutors, for our conference. Our conference
was called Hakken, which means Discovery.
The conference was amazing, and participants were
able to complete 200 cranes toward our goal of 1,000.
Because some of our members are older and their hands
did not work too well, they helped by retrieving supplies
and collecting the completed cranes. Although 200 was an
amazing number, it was a long way from 1,000. I announced
that we had had an awesome start, and I would give
members another 2 months to see how many more cranes
could be created. Subsequently, members made cranes and
dropped them off on my porch or in my mailbox. By the
first week of May, the women of DKG had come through!
We had 1,150 cranes!
Now they needed stringing! I created 25 strings of
40 cranes each. After these were finished, I had to find a
box to hold all of them. A huge Amazon box—40 inches
long—was just the ticket. The box took 10 days to reach
Japan, and the cranes’ journey to Hiroshima began. Beta
Chapter women in Japan State Organization took over and Members at Sadako Sasaki’s memorial.

46 · Volume 91-4