DOWNTOWN : Kobe Aid Comes in a Blanket Statement

After they saw the televised images of the death and destruction from the earthquake in Kobe, Japan, employees at a Downtown designer-garment company put their scissors and sewing machines in motion.

Fabric cutters and seamstresses at DOSA of California Inc., 929 S. Broadway, set aside their women’s sportswear patterns and busied themselves for two days to make 800 blankets for the victims of the 6.8-magnitude quake.

Owner Christina Kim said she was in the factory when news of the quake broke. “Everybody got real emotional. Everybody wanted to help,” she said.

“We had the resources, and we weren’t doing anything with the goods right now,” said Eddy Minn, who is in charge of operations and finances for the company. DOSA makes its garments from polartec, an insulating material made from recycled plastic soft-drink bottles. Kim contacted Arthur Johnson, a Japanese American who established the Kansai Christian Relief Fund immediately after the Jan. 17 disaster. From his office at the Language Masters in Torrance, Johnson worked with volunteers to organize efforts to aid the victims, asking for dry goods and putting together a staff of doctors, paramedics, emergency-lighting personnel and translators to head to Japan.

When Johnson told her they needed blankets the most, Kim and her 20 employees went to work.

The blankets--60 by 88 inches--were cut from 2,000 surplus yards of polartec. They started cutting and sewing Jan. 18, rushing to finish on Friday so that everything would be packed and loaded onto the plane by Jan. 21. In addition to the blankets, Kim donated 200 pieces of clothing--jackets, hooded pullovers, vests and scarves.

Her staff filled 80 large boxes with the pink, yellow, sage and off-white pieces, which were sent with Johnson’s group to Osaka, Japan.

Because the overnight temperatures since the earthquake have hovered around freezing, the insulating material will come in handy, Minn said.

More than 5,000 people have died and another 310,000 are homeless in the port city. Freeways and scores of buildings crumbled, and homes were crushed from the force of the quake. Evacuees have been living in tents or crammed into relief centers that are often without heat or running water.

Even though the quake happened far away, Kim was surprised how everyone pulled together to bring help to the victims. Her employees worked for free. A supply company donated 100 boxes. And the trucking company she uses, Wrag-Time Transportation, delivered the goods to the airport.

“It’s good to know that people always do come through. When in need, people are willing,” Kim said.

Minn said that he could not

watch the news and not do something.

“You can’t help but feel sorry for these people. Once in my life, I wanted to be able to say that I helped someone,” Minn said.