College student and cookie vendor team up to raise funds for Japan

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

3082 Edition
March 21-27, 2011

Church Ministry News



College student and cookie vendor team up to raise funds for Japan



Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan

Written by Lydia Ma



Many people in Taiwan began praying and fundraising for Japan in the aftermath 
of the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, and college students were no 
exception.

Tseng Wei-tsung, a National Cheng-Kung University (NCKU) student majoring in 
industrial design, went out and sold 100 bags of Japanese cookies recently to 
raise funds for Japan. Tseng is an undergraduate student and a member of the 
school’s Christian fellowship, Student Christian Movement. He is also a member 
of Chung Shan Presbyterian Church in Kaohsiung.

In the end, Tseng managed to amass NT$5,190 for relief efforts, which will be 
wired to a PCT General Assembly’s account designated for rescue and relief 
efforts in Japan.

According to Tseng, the cookies came from a cookie shop near his campus – free 
of charge. It turned out that the storeowner wanted to do his share in helping 
Japanese people and asked Tseng, an old client, for help in selling these 
cookies through a fundraiser.

Upon learning about the storeowner’s request for help, Tseng went to his 
friends at Student Christian Movement for advice and they staged this 
fundraiser together.

At noontime on March 21, 2011, 10 NCKU students set up a booth near the campus’ 
business quarters and began their sale. Each bag of cookies was sold for NT$50 
and all bags were sold within an hour. 

“Though students are poor, we can still give Japanese people moral support,” 
said Tseng, adding that Japanese and Taiwanese people are generally very close 
and each familiar with the other’s country. Tseng himself had Japanese friends, 
had traveled to Japan, and that’s why he could empathize with Japanese people 
at this time.

However, he said his church had also taught him that empathy required action 
and that’s why he volunteered to help the cookie shop owner.

Besides this fundraiser, Tseng also spearheaded a “100 Japanese Smiley Balls” 
campaign in hopes of cheering up and encouraging Japanese people as they 
rebuild their homes. One clip features adults raising a banner featuring the 
Japanese flag and an inscription that says, “Go Japan!”. The other clip 
features children drawing Japanese flags. 

For the adult version of the Japanese Smiley Ball go to: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVVKySvti2M&feature=player_embedded; for the 
children’s version of the Japanese Smiley Ball, go to: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6UqUhUIMNI&feature=player_embedded



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