Written by Ju Hsiu-lien
Translated by H.B. Qin
Edited by Ariel Tsai
Hurricane Beryl hit Houston, Texas on July 8, 2024. Most of the area was flooded, and many families lost all the food in their refrigerators due to flooding and power outages. Tzu Chi USA Southern Region partnered with the Houston Food Bank and organized a fruit and vegetable distribution for the affected residents on July 13 to help the families overcome the difficult situation.
On July 1, Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Grenada, an island in the West Indies of Central America, and destroyed 95% of the island’s houses; it was strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane on July 2, making it the earliest Category 5 hurricane to form in the Atlantic Ocean this year. It continued to sweep across the Caribbean, with severe disasters reported in Jamaica, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadines.
Hurricane Beryl leaves a trail of destruction in many neighborhoods in Houston, uprooting trees and crushing cars. Photo/Guangzu He
Hurricane Beryl hit Southeast Texas on July 8, leaving 2.7 million people without power and with rotting food in their refrigerators. The storm also flooded most of Houston, uprooting trees and crushing cars parked underneath. The weather was hot and muggy for several days, and the lack of electricity and air conditioning kept many people awake at night.
Distributing Fruits and Vegetables in Response to the Emergency
Although the homes of many Tzu Chi volunteers had also been affected by the disaster, seeing other Houston residents facing a difficult situation, Tzu Chi USA Southern Region decided to cooperate with the Houston Food Bank to provide fruits and vegetables for the survivors of the catastrophe. The Houston Food Bank, which normally serves 18 counties in Southeast Texas through community partners, announced that starting July 10, they would try to deliver “disaster-grade” supplies of more than 400,000 pounds in response to the emergency.
Before 8:00 AM on July 13, with a light drizzle in the sky, many volunteers had already gathered inside and outside the Southern Region Office to prepare for the day’s distribution, and the volunteers’ willingness to help others was not affected by the weather. Everyone was busy contributing to the effort.
When the container of fruits and vegetables from the Houston Food Bank arrived, volunteers in raincoats unloaded boxes of potatoes, bananas, citrus drinks, and bottled water with an electric forklift, and then arranged them in place along the distribution line.
Since it was summer vacation, high school students from the Southern Region’s neighborhoods came to participate in this distribution for those in need. Another distribution site was set up in the hallway in front of the Jing Si Bookstore, where many older residents living in the neighboring Evening Sunshine Apartments gathered early in the morning, waiting for the distribution to begin.
Volunteers worked together to bag and distribute the fruits and vegetables according to the number of registered care recipients. A sign in English and Spanish reading “The next fruit and vegetable distribution will be held on July 27, 2024 at 9:00 AM,” was put on the side of the driveway.
When the time came, the “Fruit and Vegetable Drive Through” saw cars lining up and entering the site to pick up fresh produce one after another. When the cars arrived at the designated point and the drivers opened their trunks, they didn’t need to get out: the high school students who came to help would carry their registered fruits and vegetables to the back of the car one by one.
In order to speed up the operation, the volunteers would announce the number of packages to be received by the cars before they arrived at the designated spot, so that the porters and high school students that were helping out could make preparations. For those picking up produce from Tzu Chi for the first time, the volunteers would arrange for them to park and go to the corridor in front of the meeting room for registration; after completing the paperwork, they could drive their cars to join the “Fruit and Vegetable Drive Through”.
Empathizing With Warmth and Care
Tzu Chi volunteer Justina Tran not only invited Vietnamese volunteers to assist in the distribution but also accompanied high school students in carrying fruits and vegetables. When she met Chinese-speaking members of the congregation, she would remind them in Chinese of the next distribution time.
Tzu Chi volunteer Benqi Liu, whose power had just been restored, put aside her home restoration and organizing work and came to help with the distribution. Liu, who also serves as the contact window between Tzu Chi and the food bank, said, “Tzu Chi’s distribution service is predominantly for Asians, and there are usually about 250 households, but this time, the number has increased to 386, possibly due to the fact that the disadvantaged families have suffered from inflation and hurricanes, and their situation is even more difficult.”
Liu said that the number of people coming to receive food increased, and there were new recipients, so volunteers needed to make flexible adjustments to the current situation to avoid getting stuck. She said, “We changed it to this side so that they can get out of the car and go through the new recipients’ registration procedures. Other registered people could directly pass through. It seems that this way it is faster, and also a little smoother.”
I feel that I am actually very happy, because although the power has been out at home for five days, and the electricity was only back last night, we still have a generator, so we can have a little bit of cold air, and the refrigerator maintains the power supply, and the food is still frozen there.
Even though her life has its inconveniences, Liu was more sympathetic to the situation of those families who have no electricity, and no backup power supply: “It really is very difficult, very difficult, so we really need to help them.”
Viewing Their Own Disaster as Secondary
Southern Region Vice Executive Director Kunxian Wang is also a survivor of this disaster. Seeing other residents living in a difficult situation, he put aside the recovery work at home and helped other people first. Although he had no electricity, he went on with his life as usual, not letting the circumstances deter him. He said: “Tzu Chi’s work is ongoing: as long as there is time, we are here to contribute to help people.”
Wang believes that the cooperation with the food bank was an opportunity. Through the cooperation of the two parties’ systems, information was gathered from the registration process of the food bank procedures, and compared with Tzu Chi’s existing disaster distribution operations. They used a computer system to do the registration, and to know how many people needed to be assisted, which was conducive to the subsequent distribution of volunteer manpower and time to arrange and assess the amount of food to be provided.
In the process of food distribution, Wang engaged with different ethnic groups, including local African Americans, Latinos, Vietnamese, and refugees from other countries (e.g., Afghanistan), and he felt that these people might need care in the future. As a result, more people will have to get involved.
The food distribution is very localized and reactive, and they need to come. But we need to take a more proactive approach to reach out, not just stopping at the food distribution.
Distribution is also a way of recruiting volunteers. Wang was pleased that a number of high school students who are committed to giving back to the community joined the program. “These are all caring young people and a lot of them have done similar volunteer services in other places. So we hope to give them the opportunity to come and get in touch with Tzu Chi and understand what we do. By getting to know Tzu Chi through participation, they can extend the scope of their volunteer services and together they can find people who need to be helped and provide services.”
Accompanying With Heart
In front of Jing Si Bookstore, the distribution volunteers were serving the folks who live in the neighborhood and walked over to collect fruits and vegetables.
Yuzhen Wu, who moved to Houston from Los Angeles, was originally a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner in mainland China. She was worried that it would be inconvenient because of the rain but thinking that she could meet with old friends and take a walk, she drove the motorized wheelchair that her son bought her to come to the office to pick up the food.
Since she doesn’t speak English, she brought her documents with her and took the opportunity of picking up the fruits and vegetables to seek assistance from the volunteers. Weizhen Hsu, a Tzu Chi volunteer, explained the English documents to her in great detail and urged her to seek the assistance of a lawyer to submit them along with the relevant certificates. After the paperwork was explained, Tzu Chi volunteer Jinglin Cai accompanied Wu to the distribution counter to collect the fruits and vegetables and bottled water, while volunteer Zhongxing Li assisted in carrying the fruits and vegetables to her mobility wheelchair. Wu said happily, “I only have a little money and no income, but with this food, I can cook for myself in different ways, it’s so plentiful! It doesn’t cost anything at all!”
“It’s an honor to meet you!” Wu was happy to have met the Tzu Chi volunteers. She said she was warmed by one of the volunteers from Tianjin, who told her that the volunteers would be here to serve and that she was welcome to say hello the next time she came. “I think it is better for people to do more good deeds.” Before leaving, she thanked volunteer Weizhen Hsu again for her help.
Volunteer Lingling Zhang accompanied newcomer Rui Chen to give to those in need. The volunteers were very patient with the slow-moving older adults and would advise them to walk safely. Worried about their slow mobility, the volunteers accompanied them and asked them how they would utilize and cook the fruits and vegetables they received.
The Evening Glory Apartment residents were very satisfied with the services provided by the volunteers and praised them for their courtesy. A newly registered Vietnamese Chinese American, Yashan Li, was very positive and thankful for the distribution of fruits and vegetables organized by Tzu Chi, and kept saying thank you on her way out.
A Warm and Welcoming Logistics Team
While some volunteers were outside assisting with the registration and distribution, a group of mothers were busy in the Southern Region’s kitchen preparing to make buns for the volunteers to use as snacks. Volunteers Guifang Zhu and Meimei Yang covered the dough with plastic wrap and waited for it to rest. After the dough was leavened, the two of them worked together to carry it to the workstation.
Xueqin Zhang, a former restaurant owner, came to help make vegetarian buns and pies. The volunteers invited her to come back next time to support vegetarian cuisine, and she readily agreed to their invitation.
After counting the number of buns per cage, volunteers Xihan Huang and Guifang Zhu placed the paper on the steamer and arranged the buns. After calculating the time needed to steam the buns, everyone waited in silence. “Time’s up, it’s ready.” Meimei Yang took out the delicious steamed buns one by one, which made people’s mouths water, and it was the best reward for the selfless volunteers.
The flooding gravely impacted Houston residents, and Zhu felt that this distribution of fruits and vegetables was a very meaningful form of assistance: “There are people who need this food very much, especially after the hurricane, a lot of people’s homes have lost power, and the food in the refrigerator has gone bad, so they really need it: they really need it urgently.”
“When a family is in need, everyone helps, all of them. If I’m needed here, I’ll come.” Guifang Zhu said that because some volunteers still have to work while she doesn’t have a job, she is happy to come and help. Tzu Chi volunteers are always thinking of those suffering from disasters, and if there are Tzu Chi volunteers in the vicinity of a disaster, they will lend a helping hand as soon as possible to help the survivors overcome their difficulties.
