Elsewhere on this site, we’ve told you where to eat out for Japan, how watching a movie can help fund relief efforts, and now there’s this: shopping—or rather raffling—can make a difference.

Ladies and Gentlemen Studio founders Jean Lee and Dylan Davis designed five special-edition versions of their popular chalkboard-esque piggy banks to be raffled off on April 11. Tickets are $7 and available on the Ladies and Gentlemen Studio site.

While plenty of local vendors have been inspired to help based on the images and stories alone, the Seattle designers were actually in Japan when the earthquake hit.

‘Dylan and I had been planning a long overdue vacation for some time,’ Lee explained. ’We both have a common interest in Japanese design and craft, so we figured it only makes sense to go there together and actually see and experience everything in person.’

It was on the fifth day of their trip that disaster struck. They were in the middle of a ceramic workshop when the building began to shake.

‘We scrambled to catch falling merchandise and take cover,’ Lee recounted. ‘As the shaking stopped, we were all looking at each other shell-shocked and unsure of what to do. Fortunately the damage was minimal where we were, but as we watched the news with hourly aftershocks below us, we were stunned to learn that what we felt was causing such devastation just to the north.’

The designers were in Ichikawa City, which is about 30 minutes outside of Tokyo.

When Lee and Davis returned to Seattle, ‘We vowed to do all we could to help the cause.’ They hope to raise upwards of $2,000 through the raffle.

All of the ticket sales will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross.