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FedEx pilots arrived in Japan, Monday, carrying a basketball lost after last year's tsunami. (FedEx / June 11, 2012) |
A Japanese basketball, which washed ashore in Alaska following last year’s tsunami, is on its way back to the team that lost it.
A FedEx jet picked up the ball in Anchorage, Sunday, and arrived in Japan on Monday morning.
The carrier, which is donating its services, is making arrangements to get the ball back to children who attended Kesen Middle School, which was destroyed in the March 11, 2011 disaster.
A family beachcombing near Craig, Alaska this spring found the ball, which has Japanese writing on it identifying it as property of Kesen Middle School's basketball team.
“The basketball team is thrilled, they really want to get the ball back,” said Kathy Peavey, a contractor for the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation, a non-profit which cleans up Alaska beaches, “They want to use it for a good luck charm for an upcoming tournament.”
According to email correspondence with the school provided by Peavey, some of the students lost family members in the disaster. More than half of the students lost their homes and are still living in a shelter.
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