ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — When the news broke of a 9.0 magnitude earthquake March 11 triggered a tsunami off the coast of Japan, Amy Vanden Heuvel, like many others in this country, was glued to her television set watching the events unfold.

While the threat to Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States proved to be minimal, the death toll in Japan continues to rise and the threat of a meltdown at a nuclear power plant remains ongoing.

As with many tragedies in the past, there were many opportunities to help, but this time, Vanden Heuvel decided that she needed to do something personally to help.

“I have no experience with this,” said the Robertsdale native and resident, a graduate of Foley High School who works for Baldwin Mutual Insurance in Foley. “But it just broke my heart to see what the people of Japan were going through and I just had to do something.”

Vanden Huevel decided she wanted to organize a car wash. She began talking to friends and discovered that many of them had children and grandchildren who were eagar to help.

She also talked to her grandmother, Eloise Pope, owner of Pope’s Grocery in Robertsdale and asked if she could use her place of business for the car wash. Pope agreed and the date was set for Saturday, April 9 at the store, located on Highway 59 in Robertsdale.

“I really don’t have enough money to give what I would like to,” she said, “but the hope is if we get enough people together, we can at least do something to help.”

Getting set up for donations with the American Red Cross was easier that she thought it would be, Vanden Heuvel said.

“I just called the Red Cross office in Foley,” she said. “The man there said all I had to do was, once we had gathered all the money together, deposit it into any bank account and make out a check to the Red Cross (earmarked for Japanese disaster relief). He then gave me an address for the Red Cross office in Mobile to send it to.”

While she doesn’t have a set goal, Vanden Heuvel said she is asking for a minimum donation of $5 for the event.

“But any amount people want to give would be more than wonderful,” she said.