Churches and organizations reach out to homeless via end-of-year banquet and gifts

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

3125 Edition

January 16-22, 2012

Church Ministry News

Churches and organizations reach out to homeless via end-of-year banquet and 
gifts

Reported by Lin Yi-ying, Chiou Kuo-rong

Written by Lydia Ma

Three social welfare foundations in Taiwan, including Genesis, Jen-An, and 
Huashan co-sponsored an end-of-the year banquet for homeless people on January 
11, 2012. This was the 22nd time that such a banquet had been held and there 
were a total of 3,000 tables set up on that day at 13 different locations 
across Taiwan.

According to reports, as early as 7:30 a.m., volunteers began to trickle in at 
these 13 venues to help set up tables and booths so that the banquet could 
begin at 10:00 a.m. Jen-An Public Relations officer Wu Chao-fen said that many 
people had volunteered this year and all volunteer positions were filled a week 
prior to the banquet. She also expressed her gratitude at receiving so much 
help. 

The banquet began at 10:00 a.m. at 13 locations, including, Taipei, Keelung, 
Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Hualien, and 
other areas, and red envelopes were distributed to every participant at the 
beginning of the banquet. The red envelope contained NT$100 in gift certificate 
and NT$200 in cash. The sponsoring organizations hoped this little gift from 
various organizations would help homeless people, seniors living alone, and 
single-parent families in their daily needs. 

Of the approximately 30,000 people who attended these banquets, 25,000 were 
from Taipei area alone. Because of the amount of people present in Taipei, the 
banquet held at Liberty Square was turned into a mini-fair instead.    

Wu told Taiwan Church News that 1991 was the first time such an end-of-the-year 
banquet had been held. At the time, participating organizations simply handed 
out lunchboxes inside Wanhua Train Station. Wu added that 30 lunchboxes were 
handed out in 1991 as there weren’t as many homeless people then and the budget 
was small. Now, 20,000 lunch boxes would hardly suffice in feeding homeless and 
poor people in Taipei area alone – a stark reminder of the ever-widening gap 
between the poor and the rich in Taiwan.

In related news, a member of Yikuang Presbyterian Church managed to rally 
people together to give out 100 sets of toiletries and free meal vouchers to 
homeless people in time for Lunar New Year.

Juan Shih-yung is a pharmacist and a member of Yikuang Presbyterian Church and 
she often passes by Taipei Train Station where she sees many homeless wrapped 
in plastic bags or cardboard boxes during the winter to keep themselves warm. 
With the help of some acquaintances and the Internet, she was able get support 
and help in collecting 100 sets of toiletries and free vouchers. 

Juan said that when she shared her thoughts on helping homeless people, she 
received help from many people and was able to put everything together within a 
week. One of her supporters even donated free meal vouchers from his own dining 
shop. Many people felt that the number of homeless people had increased in view 
of the rapid rate of inflation. When the time came to deliver these small 
gifts, some hairdressers and nurses also joined Juan in this outreach to offer 
free haircuts and assist in checking blood pressure. Some youths from Baptist 
and PCT churches also went along and assisted in delivering freshly cooked 
fried-dumplings. As they delivered food, they greeted each person they met with 
“Shalom! God bless you!” or “Happy New Year! May peace be with you!”

********************

Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages. 

You may translate and re-use our articles online only if you acknowledge the 
source as "Taiwan Church News" and list the names of the reporter and writer. 
Contact us before reprinting any of our articles for print publications. 

Direct comments and questions about this article to: enews@pctpress.org

Visit our website for more news at: http://enews.pctpress.org/ (English) or 
http://www.tcnn.org (Chinese) 

********************