About Us
Dream for Kids Japan — originally Touchstone Dream for Kids — was established in 2001 with the goal of helping children to lead normal lives despite being in difficult circumstances.
There are three main ways we do this. First, we support foster care facilities. These are safe places for children who have faced domestic issues that prevent them from living at home with their parents. We provide funding for regular on-site English lessons, activities, and haircuts, as well as help with events such as Japanese festivals and Christmas parties.
The second way is in partnership with other NPOs. One group we work with supports Japanese children who have medical issues and physical disabilities. Our funding and assistance have helped children, in a variety of circumstances, throughout their education and into their working lives, allowing them to reach their full potential.
Third, when children are required to leave these homes at 18 years old, we give financial assistance to help them in the interim period while they are looking for employment and private accommodation.
Dream for Kids Japan was conceived by Fred Uruma as a way for, mostly, members of the real estate industry to give something back to Japan by supporting disadvantaged children. It holds one fundraising dinner a year, but donations are always welcome. In 2017, it became an NPO, with four board members and 10 contributing members.
We believe that children who have experienced suffering and misfortune should be able grow up with the ability to dream and the confidence to strive for — and achieve — their goals.
Our Mission
Dream for Kids Japan exists to help disadvantaged children grow up with the confidence and self-esteem to believe that they can achieve any dream they work toward.
We don’t want them to grow up feeling helpless or unworthy, rather we want them to understand that they are capable of realizing even their biggest dreams.
Message from the Founder
I believe that helping children is like planting sunflowers: they all look to the sun, and no-one knows how many seeds they will drop.
I was raised in the United States, in an area where my sister and I were the only Japanese children. Since we weren’t very financially secure, I learned the importance then of having dreams and imagining future possibilities. When I came to Japan to work in 1998, I got a job in the real estate industry, which was booming. Dream for Kids, formerly Touchstone Dream for Kids, was initially set up as a private charity that would allow me and others in the industry to provide Japanese kids with the same chances that we have been blessed with and to help them achieve their goals.
When I started this endeavor in 2001, I had no idea I’d still be doing it 17 years later — but I don’t intend to stop now.
Fred Uruma
Dream for Kids Board