SXMElections.com

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The St. Maarten Tzu Chi Foundation continued its massive “love rice” relief distribution programme in August donating 611 bags of rice to 605 families around the island in that month.

The foundation estimates that the number of family members that will benefit from last month’s relief is almost doubled at 1,735. Each bag of rice weighs 10 kilograms. August rice distribution brings the total amount of rice Tzu Chi has distributed since the programme started just over two months ago to1,141 bags of rice to 1,084 families.

  The relief effort in August was possible thanks to the participation of the foundation’s committed volunteers who set aside time to visit families in the various districts to make the distribution. A total of 10 relief efforts were done last month and some 84 volunteers participated in the efforts.

On July 31, one day before August month began, a distribution effort was held at the children’s home of Mercedes Webster in French Quarter, where 20 bags of rice was donated for the home’s 26 children.

The first rice relief for August was done on Thursday, August 11, in Dutch Quarter under the guidance of a resident, who runs a small church in the area. She cooks for children in the area on Sundays and was happy to accept 50 bags of rice to continue her mission to assist 40 difficult families in the area and an additional 10 bags of rice for her Sunday cooking.

On Friday, August 12, a relief was held at the Home Away Home Foundation, which is run by Patricia Flanders, who holds weekly get together sessions for about 70 pensioners at the John Larmonie Center in Philipsburg. Tzu Chi donated 70 bags of love rice to individual family members from the foundation and an additional 20 bags of rice for the Foundation’s weekly meal service. Recipients were appreciative of the kind gesture.

On Sunday, August 14, another relief was held at Valle De Bendicion Church in Middle Region. Two pastors got together the membership of three small churches who were in need and Tzu Chi donated 160 bags of rice to 160 families at that relief effort. The story of how the Tzu Chi Foundation started in Taiwan with housewives donating a small portion of their grocery shopping coins to help the needy, touched one of the recipients, who pledged to practise a similar donation drive in her church to help persons who are in need.

Two rice reliefs were held at the Community Outreach Mentorship and Empowerment International Center (COME). The Center caters to around 50 families and runs a soup kitchen thrice weekly for the public. Tzu Chi donated 50 bags of rice – one for each family during the first relief on Wednesday, August 17, and 80 bags of rice for 80 additional needy families on Friday, August 26. The COME Center expressed HOPE that the two organisations continue to work together to help more needy families.

Another rice relief was held on Sunday, August 21 at two locations of the Seventh Day Adventist Church (Cole Bay and St. Peters). A total of 35 bags of rice were donated to needy church members at each location. The 70 bags of rice will benefit 70 families.  The church’s pastor and his wife were very grateful to Tzu Chi for extending its love rice programme to benefit the church and its members. The church has a weekly soup kitchen for the public and also has activities for children. Tzu Chi Commissioner Sandra Cheung praised the couple’s commitment and urged them to keep up the good work, noting that “together we can create a better St. Maarten.”

More persons benefitted from the love rice relief on Thursday, August 25, at the Senior Citizens Recreational Center in HOPE Estate, Sucker Garden. The Center caters to 50 senor citizens weekly. It provides them with meals and helps them with productive activities during the week. The Center requested 40 bags: 20 for families in need and 20 for its soup kitchen. The request was honoured with the donation of 40 bags of rice donated. 

Another relief was held on Friday August 26 at the I Can Foundation Children’s Home in Dutch Quarter. The Home currently caters to 27 foster children and food takes up a major portion of its budget. A total of 20 bags of rice were donated to the Home to help ease their burden of feeding the children in its care. The Home was grateful for the donation.

The last two rice reliefs for August were held on Sunday, August 28, at Key to Freedom Foundation in St. Johns, which caters to 12 former addicts and on Sunday, August 28, at the St. Martin’s Home. A total of 25 bags of rice were donated to Key to Freedom and 26 bags of rice to the St. Martin’s Home.

Tzu Chi was able to execute the relief mission thanks to the assistance of Tzu Chi Foundation’s main branch in Taiwan, which generously shipped a container of rice to St. Maarten based on a request from Tzu Chi St. Maarten Commissioner Sandra Cheung.

On June 29, 2016, 20 tons of individual packed (10 kilos) rice amounting to 2,000 bags of “Love Rice” arrived in the country from Tzu Chi Taiwan. Each bag was labelled “Love from Taiwan.”

The Foundation requested the container of rice to be able to assist some of the many families in the country who are struggling to make ends meet. Prior to the rice distribution volunteers made house-to-house visits to contact recipients and to record their information.

Tzu Chi will continue with its rice relief distribution to be able to reach as many needy families in the community as possible.

Tzu Chi Commissioner Sandra Cheung and the team of volunteers who assisted were happy to be involved in such an initiative to help spread seeds of love to families on the island who needs it most.