Various businesses and organizations held fundraisers over the weekend to help victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

At the Japanese Cultural Centre, Atsuko Boyd kept busy volunteering at the donation table and is overwhelmed with the support of Calgarians.

"This stuff makes me cry. It's great to see that a lot of people feel it," said Boyd, who is from Sendai and whose parents survived the disaster.

"Some people actually come up to me with tears in their eyes and give me a big hug and say, ‘Anything I can do? Anything I can do for you?' And some people want to give me cash and say, ‘Can you take this to your mom and dad?'"

Local businesses donated portions of their sales to help the victims while one Banff group organized a massive bottle drive to raise money.

Two groups also held fundraising events at Pacific Place Mall in the northeast.

While many Japanese Calgarians are happy to hear family and friends are safe, they say there is no celebration because so many lives have been lost.