Japanese Visitors Return Home with Goods Needed in Hard-Hit Land

Bread. Lantern. Flashlights. Batteries.

That was a list sent via e-mail to Anna Stanley from the mother of one of the Japanese foreign exchange students she has been hosting this past week.

The e-mail requested that Stanley have the boy purchase those essential items before he returned to a .

It sparked Stanley to contact other host families.

The end result was a flurry to create care packages for the 20 foreign exchange students to take home to their families.

On Thursday night, host families and the foreign exchange students gathered at for one final activity before the students would return to Yotsukaido — Livermore's sister city in Japan.

While the kids enjoyed pizza and knocking down pins, Stanley and crew were tucked in a back corner of the bowling alley, gathering and organizing supplies that would be part of the care packages.

Friends and family who'd heard of the host families' efforts stopped by with donations and other items.

"If the families there can't use it I'm sure they'll get it to someone who can," Stanley said.

The Livermore Yotsukaido Sister City Organization is a student exchange program. Livermore sent more than 24-eighth graders to that city in October for nine days.

March was Livermore's turn to return the favor. The students arrived Saturday and have been staying with host families across Livermore. They attended various middle schools in town, including , , ,  and .

The foreign exchange students are scheduled to leave for Japan from San Francisco International Airport on Friday morning.

Yotsukaido is about 200 miles from the earthquake area in Japan, officials said.