It isn't often that you can combine quenching your dry throat, and satisfying your thirst to do good work in society all at the same time. Well, due to a uniquely creative idea brought to a staff member at The Nippon Foundation -- you can indeed do both now. And the idea looks as though it will spread like wildfire.

The idea: a company, business, school, or shop designates one or more of its vending machines to be a contributor to charitable projects. Then, when someone buys a drink from one of these dedicated machines, the ten yen of the price is automatically contributed to a charitable account. The money collected funds such projects as:

1) support for hospices, 2) recovery programs for people affected by leprosy, 3) social action projects for the disabled, and 4) building schools in S.E. Asia.

It is envisioned that the idea will quickly gather public support and the number of such specially designated vending machines will multiply exponentially in the near future. The social impact is potentially astronomical. For example, if just one skyscraper, which has dozens of vending machines on each floor, became dedicated to contributing 10 yen every time someone buys a drink, the donations would amount to thousands of U.S. dollars a week. All of this money will go into a social welfare account that will be distributed directly to various charities. And, of course charity begins at home, so to lead the way, these first dedicated charity vending machines have been set up at The Nippon Foundation headquarters in Tokyo.