About Us

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In the late 80’s, a group of young New Yorkers got together and started to organize a new way for people to volunteer in their community. They knew that they didn't necessarily have a lot of money to give away. But the one thing they had to give was their time. They started organizing group projects on evenings and weekends so that they could volunteer around their work schedules. They made it easy for other volunteers to say yes to service by requiring no long-term commitment, just an invitation to a meaningful, hands on project that left participants feeling like they had made some sort of a difference. They named their organization New York Cares. As word of this organization spread to friends of the New York Cares founders in Washington D. C. and Atlanta, GA, similar efforts were started in those cities as well. Now, the Hands On Network (the umbrella organization for all of the Hands On or Cares organizations) has grown to more than 90 communities both within the U.S. and internationally—including Hands On Tokyo.

Each day, Hands On Network volunteers work with hundreds of communities building wheelchair ramps, tutoring children, visiting with senior citizens, rebuilding playgrounds, delivering food to those who are hungry and the list goes on and on.

Much in the same way that other Hands On affiliates have started, Hands On Tokyo started in December 2006 with a small group of people talking about how they may best to serve their community. This group however, had a bit of a different make-up. It was made up of foreign and Japanese nationals interested in developing a bilingual volunteer clearinghouse so that they could volunteer together without the fear of not being able to communicate with each other.

While each culture has its own philosophies or mores around volunteerism, Hands On Tokyo looks to find commonality among volunteers to ensure that all participants know that they have something to contribute to society.

Hands On Tokyo works with individuals, groups, corporate teams and students, to connect them to meaningful service opportunities. Volunteers are orientated prior to engaging in service with a specific project or nonprofit organization. In addition, each project is prescreened prior to sending volunteers to ensure that each participant will have a positive experience.

A hallmark of a Hands On Tokyo project is that a project coordinator accompanies volunteers to the project site. Project coordinators are responsible not only for recruiting volunteers to their project, but also for the Hands On Tokyo-nonprofit relationship. Project coordinators provide travel directions, orientation to the specific project and answer questions from the agency or the volunteer. They are a vital part of the Hands On Network model.

All of Hands On Tokyo’s projects are developed alongside volunteers, nonprofit partners and sponsors. Hands On Tokyo volunteers aim to enhance existing efforts or projects by contributing trained volunteers to the community effort. Project partnerships are true partnerships where the organization, its clients and Hands On Tokyo volunteers all benefit from an association with each other.