Tzu Chi charity benefits flood victims, scholars

Humanitarian organization Tzu Chi Philippines perform charitable services rain or shine. Aside from volunteer eye doctors doing free cataract surgeries and eye consultation on poor patients at the Tzu Chi Eye Center in Sta. Mesa, Manila despite the heavy monsoon downpour triggered by typhoon “Carina” overnight on 23 July, its other volunteers were busy showing compassion learned from Tzu Chi founder Dharma Master Cheng Yen.

They visited flood-damaged residences in Manila, Marikina, Quezon City, Valenzuela, San Mateo and Montalban to know how they can help. Later, they called on the public to donate clothes for families who lost their belongings to the flood.

In Cebu, Tzu Chi scholars Andrel Arreglado and Diane June Guinita led other scholars of the organization in collecting cash donations house to house in their poor neighborhood of Pulpogan on 28 July.

Freshmen Psychology students from the Chinese General Hospital Colleges also served as Tzu Chi volunteers. They visited eye patients belonging to poor families to see their living conditions and plan how they can help them.

Before the typhoon, Tzu Chi organized a charity run at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus. Some 6,000 runners joined the fun run where the proceeds will go to some 1,700 Tzu Chi scholars. At the same time, the race demonstrated Tzu Chi’s care for the environment by letting participants wear their shirts and singlets made from recycled PET bottles and eat healthy taho using biodegradable wheat straw cups.