Composite Report from Formosa
 Taipei |
Hsinchu |
Tainan |
A Springtime of Hope for the Underprivileged
By the Taipei News Group (Originally in Chinese)
In the weeks before Lunar New Year 2005, Taipei initiates were inspired by Supreme Master Ching Hai's universal, loving spirit to convey warmth and care to the less fortunate in the cold of winter by conducting a series of relief activities. Approximately three hundred members of the Taipei Center were mobilized for the project. The volunteers began by visiting the Taipei City Social Affairs Bureau to obtain information on popular gathering sites of the homeless and the items they needed most. To spread the news to the street people, the brothers and sisters then held up notice boards at these sites announcing the schedule and venues of the activities.
In late December 2004, a cold front hit Taipei, and the initiates were informed by the Wanhua District Welfare Center that the local homeless population was in great need of warm clothing. So on December 28, the practitioners promptly delivered fifteen cartons of thick, warm jackets to ease their immediate distress. Then, after a second supply of winter jackets along with kung-fu shoes, shower gel, shampoo and shavers was arranged in groups and categorized based on street surveys done by the Social Affairs Bureau, the initiates, aided by Bureau staff members, distributed the items to halfway houses and homeless shelters. The kung-fu shoes symbolized the first step in finding a job, and were aimed at encouraging the homeless to begin their lives anew. The initiates also prepared five hundred New Year's gift bags for distribution, each containing a warm wool hat, gloves, socks, toothpaste, a toothbrush, a towel, candy, cookies, bread, a sandwich, a hot drink and last but not least spiritual food—copies of Master's News magazine.
Then on the morning of January 6, 2005, the volunteers delivered sixty cartons of winter clothing donated by fellow initiates to the Jhonghe Shelter for the Homeless. And in the afternoon, they presented the New Year's gift bags to the Wanhua District Welfare Center, where Mr.Yang Liou-chi, chief of the social work section of the city's Social Affairs Bureau and Mr. Lin, a senior homeless representative, received the items on behalf of the homeless. In his speech, Section Chief Yang thanked The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association for the care and concern its members have shown to Taipei's street population over the years, and for its continued efforts in providing material and spiritual aid.
That evening, guided by several loving, patient social workers from the Taipei Social Affairs Bureau, the fellow practitioners visited several districts frequented by homeless people and presented them with gift bags. Upon receiving Master's gifts of love, the beneficiaries expressed their deep gratitude as their faces glowed with happiness. The sisters and brothers were accompanied on these visits by a group of academics who study the homeless population—Professor Yang of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Professor Pan of National Taiwan Normal University and several of their graduate students. The professors and students were speechless while watching the Taipei practitioners diligently distribute gift bags oblivious to the chilly wind and potential danger in the neighbourhoods they visited, and later said repeatedly, "This has been hard work for you."
Next, on the morning of January 14, the initiates again delivered approximately a hundred gift bags to the Jhonghe Shelter for the Homeless, where Director Chen Xue-cheng and a resident representative, Mr. Zhang, received the items. Director Chen was deeply grateful to The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association for rendering aid just as the cold front was moving in. Representative Zhang, being even more earnest in expressing his thanks, said, "The practical items and soul-elevating sample booklets and News magazines you've provided are just what the homeless need most." That evening, another group of fellow practitioners went to The Peace Abode, a halfway house for the underprivileged in Taipei, where they were warmly welcomed by the residents.
Not long after, the Taipei Center learned from the Social Affairs Bureau that while local needy households received much help from social welfare groups, some senior citizens living alone were paid little attention. So on the morning of January 21, the initiates prepared a supply of heating packs, thermos bottles, rice, nutritional supplements and copies of Master's News magazine. Then, accompanied by several social workers and an earnest senior citizen, they visited over a dozen seniors in the Wanhua District to offer them material and spiritual support.
The last facility the initiates visited during the winter 2004-05 Taipei aid project was the Taipei County Ai-Wei Center on Huafu Hill, Bali Township. The brothers and sisters had previously visited the Center in September 2004, when they learned that the staff had set up a computer-learning room in which residents gained new knowledge and exercised their often deformed and withered fingers. So, in compliance with the Center's needs, during this visit the initiates contributed six sets of computer and ten cartons of adult diapers. Through these activities, the warm flow of God's love shone through to Taipei's underprivileged on the city's coldest winter days. And hopefully, the winter 2004-05 Taipei aid project brought a measure of happiness into the lives of the street people, disabled and senior citizens living alone, and will encourage these less fortunate brothers and sisters, who are often forgotten by society, to seek new lives as they derive hope and power from Master's words of wisdom.
Putting Love into Action
By the Hsinchu Newsgroup (Originally in Chinese)
On January 6, 2005, fellow practitioners from Hsinchu, Formosa visited the Yu-An Children Care Center in Miaoli County, the Catholic Hua-kuang Social Welfare Foundation in Hsinchu County, the St. Joseph's Center for Special Education in Hsinchu City, and Miracle Home which offers counseling and a stable environment for school dropouts, children from broken families and juvenile delinquents. The initiates gave gifts of love and conveyed Master's care to the young residents of these facilities, and at the Yu-An Children's Care Center the director personally accepted the daily necessities brought by the practitioners and presented them with a flag to show the Center's appreciation for Master's charitable acts.
These centers and halfway houses are concrete expressions of God's love by social philanthropists. The children and young people in all of the facilities are well provided for and given vocational training so that they can contribute to society in the future. Hopefully, as the Golden Age unfolds, humankind will continue to demonstrate such universal love and fill every corner of the earth with warm compassion.
Helping Hands for the Elderly
By the Tainan Newsgroup (Originally in Chinese)
In the depths of winter 2004-05, the Tainan Center of The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association conducted a series of activities to provide relief to needy households and other underprivleged people in their community. On December 26 and 29, 2004, and January 14, 25 and 29, 2005 local initiates visited the BaiHe Veterans Home, the Jhupu Elderly Care Center in Yanshuei, the Taizih Temple Elderly Center, the Hsin Te Chu Hua Cripple School and the Elderly Home of Sinying Hospital in Tainan County.
During these activities, a videotaped introduction to Master was presented followed by brilliant entertainment programs, among which the recital of Master's Wu Tzu Poems received a resounding response. Several senior citizens asked that the sister-initiates who recited the verses continue the recitation and teach them how to recite poetry. The elderly praised Supreme Master Ching Hai as a great enlightened teacher who fully understands the suffering of sentient beings, adding that Her short poems accurately portray the ephemeral nature of earthly life. Moreover, Director Tang Yue-mei of the Taizih Temple Elderly Center was touched by Master's compassion and expressed her gratitude with tear-filled eyes. And the staff of the Jhupu Elderly Care Center showed an interest in learning more about Master's teachings so that they could be more efficient in serving the senior citizens at their facility.
Building a Caring Community for the Aged
By the Pingtung Newsgroup (Originally in Chinese)
On January 23, 2005, initiates from The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association again extended aid to destitute elderly residents of Sinjhih Village, Wanluan Township, Pingtung County and wished them a happy New Year. That day, the village chief joined the initiates in distributing blankets to the villagers and expressed gratitude to the Association for its ongoing concern for the needy elderly of his community. The seniors received the blankets with great joy and contentment reflected in their faces.
The arrival of Golden Year Two marks the opening of a new chapter in human history. Hopefully, in coming years human beings will continue to receive God's blessings and live lives of satisfaction in body, mind and spirit.
