Leverage your strengths, rely on others for your weaknesses. If you can cherish yourself in this way, the world will surely expand. [Neyagawa Citizens' Mutual Aid Association, NPO]

We endorse April Dream, a project that aims to make April 1st a day for companies to announce their dreams. This press release is the dream of us, the "Neyagawa Citizens' Mutual Aid Association," a specified non-profit organization.

Reason for the Dream

We began our activities nearly 50 years ago in Neyagawa City, Osaka Prefecture. This was a time when the word "volunteer" was still very unfamiliar. During the period of rapid economic growth, the population surged, and nuclear families, which were then at their peak, became the norm in communities. It was a time when people without familial or local ties began to need "mutual aid" beyond mere connections. Our association's name includes "mutual aid," and our regularly published newsletter is called "Tsunagu" (Connect). Our activities began as a "private house renovation type" initiative in the nascent stages of community welfare in Japan. Decades later, contrary to our initial aspirations, (local) society gradually lost "mutual aid" and "connections." Our activities have faced numerous crises. The "Volunteer Genesis" era, triggered by the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995. The enhancement of systems, such as the introduction of welfare services prompted by the Long-Term Care Insurance Act in 2000, forced us to re-evaluate the raison d'être of our activities. In 2001, we also acquired NPO legal status. Amidst uncertainty, we expanded the scope of our activities. Before we knew it, organizations similar to ours, which had been active in small communities since before 1990, had either significantly expanded their operations or ceased their activities altogether and disbanded. Of course, especially since the 2010s, various activities have increased in society. However, we still have much to consider. For us, the question of how to pass on our aspirations from those who supported our activities from the beginning to the next generation has grown during this period. While conducting our operations, supporting each other in living, continuing our daily lives, and feeling the changes in the local community, we navigated the 2010s. Over these ten years, we faced countless crises for our activities and our organization: inundation from internal water damage in 2014, damage from the Northern Osaka Earthquake and Typhoon Jebi in 2018, and relocation due to road widening. These were situations where the very survival of the organization was at stake, rather than addressing the contradictions of society, local activities, or issues felt through encounters and daily lives with individuals. Nevertheless, we have continued our journey. Now, we are finally seeing the 50-year mark – half a century – since our establishment. Quietly continuing our activities, with 50 years as a milestone, has become our "dream."

To Fulfill the Dream

To say that accumulating 50 years of activity is a "dream" might sound quite inward-looking. Last year, we took on the challenge of publishing an article in "A Job Book for Junior High School Students." The title was "Are NPOs not volunteers? Can they be established as a job?" In the latter half of the 2010s, as the main actors of social entrepreneurship shifted from NPOs to for-profit companies and general incorporated associations, we feel that NPOs, composed of citizen participation, can once again find meaning in continuing to create "connections" within the community. We sent out a message for this purpose, directed at the children who will bear the future. Even in modern society, where diversity is loudly advocated, the "image of work" in Japan tends to be fixed. We feel the necessity to deliberately question such a familiar concept as "What is work?" We feel that current society is "unfree." Men, women, children, the elderly, people with disabilities – we are asked by society to "be a certain way." We believe that justice is not singular. We wish to change such an "unfree" society. Therefore, communicating about familiar things is the source of our continued activities, and it's not just 50 years of simply accumulating time. We feel that communicating the philosophy of our activities, which we have continuously built up for 50 years to fulfill our "dream," is a necessary action. Towards the realization of the "dream" highlighted in last year's "April Dream" – "Expanding food sharing activities and fighting food loss" – we will work to increase our仲間 (companions/partners) even further in the new fiscal year. Over the past year, the number of people interested in food loss and willing to provide food for food drives has increased along with the number of initiatives in Neyagawa City. We believe that the know-how of our "Community Freedge (Public Refrigerator)" activities has been accumulated. We are finally looking to increase the number of initiatives, and we aim to achieve this by expanding our network. As an organization carrying out business activities, we have had a policy of "not growing large" for the past 10 years. For us, who are engaged in businesses that support people's lives and livelihoods, maintaining the current size without growing large means that we must constantly continue "small" challenges. We believe that by continuing small challenges appropriate to our mission as an organization, we can reach 50 years. We are looking for people who will "know" and "think" with us about these 50 years of our activities. Dreams can be seen together by envisioning them, participating, and engaging. Please, let's realize our dream together. [Neyagawa Citizens' Mutual Aid Association, NPO] "April Dream" is a project by PR TIMES where companies announce dreams they wish to achieve on April 1st. We are seriously aiming for the realization of this dream.