The city of Houston, Texas, was a fitting place to be home to Tzu Chi USA’s Southern Region as the most populous city in Texas. It also is home to the U.S. oil industry as well as the place that served as the launching pad for men to fly and land on the moon. Therefore, it is right in line with our mission to serve those in need wherever they may be in the region while we are also able to offer our love and compassion.

Our Southern Region branch volunteers help with a variety of needs. We hold free clinics, visit the elderly, low-income immigrants and single-parent families to provide daily living necessities as well as companionship. For students from low-income families, we help by granting scholarships and distribute school supplies to younger school children.

In 2012, our Southern Region Executive Director Tarzan Huang had a vision to have the pre-school built as part of the campus. The Great Love Pre-School is bilingual in Mandarin and English in accordance with Dharma Master Cheng Yen’s sentiment of educating the children from when they are very young.

Young students will learn our values of compassion and discipline as well as love and acceptance of all people. Along with those important traits, the institution will help to build character. It all adds up to building good citizens for the future, which brings hope to the world.

Hurricane Harvey Relief

Parts of this region are a haven for natural disasters such as hurricanes and flooding. And while water is lifegiving it also can cause catastrophe as with Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 that made its way to the Texas Gulf Coast on Aug. 25, 2017. Houston felt the effects with as much as 52 inches in some areas leaving devastating floods in Houston and surrounding areas.

We were already gathering to bring relief to the area while Harvey was making its way through, but instead we would bring compassion and hope to those affected by what would be called one of the worst weather disasters to hit the U.S. We also witnessed victims’ spirit and their willingness to band together to help one another. As we distributed cash cards, we saw hope in the faces of those victims, hope that a new life was attainable.

Hurricane Michael Relief

Our volunteers were able to distribute debit cards as well as blankets made from recyclable bottles to the victims following Hurricane Michael that made landfall on Oct. 11, 2018, in Panama City, Fla. While the hurricane brought death and destruction, it also left its residents with a great need for relief. Temporary shelters were in place for those with no place to go.

To be able to help those victims and walk with them together on their path to healing is a journey that is in line with Dharma Master Cheng Yen’s teachings. Many people lost entire homes and only had the clothes on their backs. Our cash card distribution enabled them to buy the necessities. As they slowly try to get back on track, we walked alongside them with love and support showing them they are not alone.