Report on Our Visit to a Children's Cafeteria

Community Service Committee Chair　石川佳照

On Wednesday, October 18, the three of us — Committee Member 平岡直記, Committee Member 横山剛士 and I — visited the NPO Kids Mirai Project, which runs the Shinjuku Niko Niko Children's Cafeteria in Okubo, Shinjuku City.
Drawing on experience as a former member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, Chairperson 猪爪まさみ founded the Kids Mirai Project in 2016, and it continues to this day. Serving all children and their guardians, pregnant women and the elderly, it provides meals, learning support and daily-life support, offers them a place to belong, and supports parents in child-rearing, with the aim of contributing to a society free of poverty and abuse where everyone can live with a smile.
The children's cafeteria is held five times a month, and each time volunteers prepare and distribute 50 to 60 home-cooked meals.
Three to four families (6 to 8 people) come to eat at the cafeteria, and the rest of the meals are distributed as boxed lunches.
Many people, including foreign residents and those in various circumstances, come to pick up meals discreetly, and many others request delivery; often they specify a location so that those around them will not know, and the meals are delivered there.
When we visited, three mothers came with their children, and we had a chance to talk with them briefly.
There were two elementary school students and one junior high school student. The mothers and children were cheerful and lively, and we enjoyed talking with them, but I sensed that their circumstances were difficult in many ways.
At the end, we gave Halloween toys and sweets sets to the three children who came to eat, and they were overjoyed, beaming with smiles.
This Rotary year, the Community Service Committee plans to visit the Kids Mirai Project regularly and continue supporting the Shinjuku Niko Niko Children's Cafeteria, including interacting with the children.