Nonbiri Sumi-chan no Ie

Nonbiri Sumi-Chan No Ie is a not-for-profit organization that has expanded their services over the years. The group now operates facilities such as day care centers for elderly people, day service centers, and community homes in Shintoumei (Higashimatsushima City).

We aim to provide users with physical and mental disability a living environment similar to what they are familiar with. Our community homes and the day service centers were severely affected by the 11th March tsunami. In addition to the urgent repairs needed for our community homes, we have no prospect to reopen due to problems with the location. With the help of our volunteers, we are currently using a staff member’s house as a temporary day service center.

Even though we may not be able to properly restore the damaged facility on its former site, we aspire to reopen a new day care center for elderly people as soon as possible. Your support would be greatly appreciated.


2011.12.8 Dismantling the building and conversation lounge

They have decided to take down our building for the day home service. At first They were thinking about renovating and reopening it but They have decided to demolish it and clear the land, since it costs a large amount of money to repair, and also it was badly affected by flood damage caused by a typhoon.

【Demolition of our building】

They are going to repair and reopen a different building that they have used before for day service.

【The building under repair】

Because it’s hard to reopen the group home, they will provide the new location with a conversation lounge and contribute reconstruction activities to the local community.
Neither our surrounding area nor the local train station is repaired yet. Also, almost all shops in the area are still closed.
Restoring the train station is essential for the elderly and children. They are going to cooperate with local people and focus on repairing the train station as soon as possible.


2011.07.26 Beautiful garden and volunteers from Tokyo.

We got a beautiful garden in ‘Sumichann-no-ie’ where has resumed the day service. We made the garden in the hope that regional people could have comfortable lives.


A beautiful flower bed

It has started to repair the damaged day service institution. We are working with volunteers from Tokyo .We started scraping the mud from under the floor.


Volunteers from Tokyo.


ripping off floor and scraping mud


2011.07.06 A salon for people who live in temporally house

‘I want to work here. I want to make a place such as a day service or a salon for the exchange so that regional people can gather together, if it is difficult to open a group home.’ Director Ms. Sumiko Ito said. The other day, we opened a salon with some groups at temporary houses and places of refuge. We sang songs, had snacks and a cup of tea, also providing hair cut service and hair dyeing service with beautician volunteers. We are proceeding with the repair work to reopen our day service from July 9th as our goal. We are considering about making a salon for the exchange where regional people can feel free to come join for chatting any time. We do not decide date and time but we are planning to provide a place for people who used to live in this area before can come back and have a cup of tea, talking together whenever they want throughout a whole year.