Written by Jing Jia Ning, Jinman Chang, & Yuya Lin
Translated by H.B. Qin
Edited by Adriana DiBenedetto
In celebration of 25 years of service at Tzu Chi USA’s Boston Service Center, a new community outreach office was established in downtown Boston’s Chinatown on November 6th, 2021, expanding the breadth of Tzu Chi’s care and relief locally.
The new office in Chinatown is small yet beautiful, offering a comfortable realm to calm one’s mind amidst the hustle and bustle.
Thank you all! Here we are. Several of us have served in the community for 40 or 50 years. And we welcome new friends and fresh blood to join us. Zongren Jiang, the Boston Chinese Economic Development Council (CEDC) chairman, was the principal facilitator in establishing the service station. A few years ago, he was invited by Tzu Chi volunteers to participate in a tea service and learned that Tzu Chi volunteers were looking for a venue for the planned service station in Chinatown. He helped to promote the work step by step. Now, this wish has come true. In the future, student-volunteers and seniors who experienced inconveniences riding into the suburbs can receive training and services more conveniently through this Tzu Chi Service Station in Boston.
With the generous support of Chinese communities overseas and locally, Tzu Chi opens a service station in Boston’s Chinatown. Photo/Jing Jia Ning
Jingwei Cai was Tzu Chi’s first volunteer in Boston, where Tzu Chi’s vision of compassion for the world has been upheld for over two decades. From volunteers’ 9/21 earthquake fundraiser, to the annual Mid-Autumn Festival charity sale, street sweeping, diverse international disaster fundraising events, community health days, and more, there have seemingly always been volunteers in Tzu Chi’s distinct blue and white uniforms in Boston’s Chinatown. With the spirit of giving back, volunteers opened the new service station to extend their aid within the community even further, and promote community service together.
We feel that there is a mission that urges us to come back to Chinatown and do something for the folks in Chinatown. Those who supported Tzu Chi in the past started from here, and we must give back to this community.
Furthermore, the volunteers here can accompany seniors living independently in Chinatown nearby, and provide counseling services for recently arrived immigrant children and families. Volunteers are also developing more activities, such as community cleaning events, and promoting environmental protection through the reduction of single-use plastics.
The new service center offers a unique realm to calm one’s mind in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Boston’s Chinatown. Photo/Jing Jia Ning
