Charity

Tzu Chi provides financial, medical, spiritual, and other services in times of need. Tzu Chi has more than 20 community programs as well as disaster relief services. Volunteers reach out helping hands and assist needy people in their local communities as well as in other countries.

Family Services
Family services include short-term and long-term support. Volunteers assist around 2,000 needy families in the United States annually. Among them, some have been cared continuously for more than a decade.

Disaster Relief
Tzu Chi provides assistance to disaster survivors where volunteers deliver emergency cash and relief supplies within days of a disaster. Tzu Chi assisted survivors during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the 9/11 attacks in New York, the 2003 Southern California wildfires, Hurricane Isabelle in 2003, Hurricane Charlie in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Yucca Valley and Esperanza Fires in 2006, Alabama Enterprise Tornado, North Texas Flood, South Lake Tahoe Fire, Brooklyn Tornado, Minnesota Flash Flood, Ohio Flood and Southern California Wildfires in 2007, Arkansas Tornado and the Midwest flood in 2008. For example, in June 2008, Tzu Chi distributed over 2 million dollars of emergency cash, eco-friendly blankets, and daily necessities in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Home Visits
Tzu Chi volunteers regularly visit neighborhood convalescent homes and senior homes. Volunteers also visit numerous long-term care facilities across the U.S., such as the Ronald McDonald House in Minneapolis, MN; Los Angeles and Pasadena, CA; Falls Church, VA; and Baltimore, MD and Washington DC and many others.

Homeless Services
Volunteers provide various services for the homeless, including serving meals on a regular basis, in cities such as New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Phoenix, Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis and Honolulu.

Community Support Program
The community support program works with neighborhood organizations to help the needy. Tzu Chi provides financial assistance and daily necessities for families who cannot afford the most basic needs.

International Disaster Relief
Tzu Chi USA began its first international relief efforts in Mexico in 1994. Since then, volunteers have provided humanitarian aid and medical services in Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Columbia, Guatemala, EI Salvador, Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, Haiti, Chile and the Pacific Islands. In 2002, U.S. volunteers traveled to Afghanistan to provide relief aid. In 2005, volunteer doctors traveled to Sri Lanka to provide free medical care for tsunami survivors. In 2008, U.S. volunteers traveled to Sichuan, China to assist with earthquake relief work.

Tzu Chi believes that everyone, regardless of ethnicity, socio-economic status and religion, deserves the right to medical services when they need it, even if they cannot afford it.

Buddhist Tzu Chi Free Clinic
The Buddhist Tzu Chi Free Clinic, located in Alhambra, California provides free medical services, acupuncture and dental care for low-income families and people without medical insurance. The Free Clinic in Honolulu is open during evening hours to provide medical care. These clinics deliver quality services to 12,000 patients annually.

Tzu Chi Community Clinic The Tzu Chi Community Clinic, located in South El Monte, California is a primary health care facility which provides high quality general medical and women’s healthcare services at reasonable costs to individuals and families in the area. The Community Clinic is dedicated to responding to community needs, particularly those of low income patients.

Tzu Chi Alternative Medicine Clinic
The Tzu Chi Alternative Medicine Clinic, located in South El Monte, California, is devoted to providing quality natural health care. Through the use of acupuncture and herbs, the Alternative Medicine Clinic strives to integrate the best medical knowledge of both the East and the West to meet the treatment and prevention needs of patients.

Tzu Chi Dental Community Clinic
The Tzu Chi Dental Community Clinic, located adjacent to the Community Clinic in South El Monte, California opened in March of 2008. The Clinic strives to provide high quality and low cost dental services to low-income families.

Tzu Chi Community Clinic at Wilmington
The Tzu Chi Community Clinic at Wilmington provides high quality and low-cost health services and health education to senior citizens in the community, as well as dental services to those with limited financial ability.

Medical Outreach Programs and Health Fairs
The medical outreach programs and health fairs provide free services to people in remote and impoverished areas, promoting community health and wellness through consultation, seminars and activities.

Mobile Dental Vans
Mobile dental vans are located in Alhambra, New York, and San Jose. They provide free dental services during outreach missions as well as dental care to local low income area elementary schools. Each of the three mobile vans is equipped with dental chairs, digital X-ray machines, and sterilizing equipments, making them each a full dental clinic on wheels.

Support Groups
The Tzu Chi Free Clinic and its volunteers and doctors organize support groups for people who suffer from cancer, diabetes, or are undergoing dialysis. These groups meet regularly to facilitate a forum where patients and family members can exchange their experiences in spiritual, financial, and medical matters.

Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA)
TIMA is made up of more than 5,000 medical professionals worldwide who volunteer their expertise and time to provide quality medical services both in their own communities, whether urban or rural, and worldwide. TIMA USA has 22 chapters in the United States. TIMA chapters are also located in eight other countries. During a major disaster, TIMA members from different parts of the world team up to provide medical services to those in need in an effective, respectful and compassionate manner.

Tzu Chi Marrow Donor and Stem Cell Research Center
Founded in Hualien, the Tzu Chi Marrow Donor and Stem Cell Research Center is an independent medical institution that manages one of the world’s largest Asian marrow donor and stem cell tissue registries. As of January 31, 2008, more than 307,657 people had registered as potential marrow donors.

Tzu Chi’s education mission emphasizes “kindness, compassion, joy and selfless giving,” which are based on Buddhist teachings of the Four Immeasurables.

Tzu Chi Academy
There are 20 Tzu Chi Academies in the United States. The Academies are weekend Chinese schools formed on the principles of gratitude, respect, and love. Besides teaching the Chinese language and culture, all schools emphasize character education and humanitarian classes, including flower arrangement, tea ceremony, recycling, as well as participation in community service activities such as regular visits to nursing homes and disabled children’s centers.

Tzu Chi Parent Child Program
The parent-child program is offered once a month for children and parents to attend together. In the class, they learn to love and respect each other as individuals. It is hoped that activities in the class will foster harmonious relationships within families, as families are the building blocks of our society.

Tzu Chi Great Love Preschool and Kindergarten
The opening of the Tzu Chi Great Love Preschool and Kindergarten in 2006 is an important landmark for the mission of education. The school’s mission is to provide students with a rich and rewarding educational experience that will enhance their academic learning and the development of their inner strength.

Tzu Chi Great Love Elementary School
The Tzu Chi Great Love Elementary School opened in 2010. The opening of this school is a new milestone in Tzu Chi USA’s long-term efforts to establish a complete education system from preschool to higher education.

Community Education Program
Every Tzu Chi branch office also serves as a spiritual cultivation ground. It is a shared space for everyone, a training ground for the practices of Buddhist teachings, and a community education center. Various programs are offered at the branch offices, including; the art of tea ceremony, flower arrangement, Chinese calligraphy, the art of vegetarian cuisine, beginning Chinese class and parents-children camps.

Tzu Chi Teachers’ Association
In the United States, Tzu Chi has established the U.S. Tzu Chi Teachers’ Association in support of teachers and staff members from the Tzu Chi Academies, and the Tzu Chi Great Love Preschool and Kindergarten and Elementary School. The Association helps its members in bringing Tzu Chi’s humanitarian education to the member schools and local communities.

Collaborations with Local Communities
For the past ten years, Tzu Chi has been providing various educational services for the Morita Tzu Chi Elementary School in Tijuana. We offer scholarships and school supplies to the students. In 2006, Tzu Chi collaborated with the local government to build classrooms, libraries and the community vocational training center. Tzu Chi also reaches out to local elementary schools, such as the Lytle Creek Elementary School in San Bernardino and John Muir Elementary School in San Francisco, to provide character education.

Tzu Chi’s humanistic culture is the essence of Tzu Chi volunteers’ experience. The mission of humanistic culture takes on the responsibility of communicating the core values of Tzu Chi, promoting humanistic values as well as documenting the history of Tzu Chi. These tasks are accomplished through publishing, TV broadcasting, websites, as well as translations.

Environmental Protection
Tzu Chi volunteers in the U.S. are actively involved in environmental protection work such as recycling, street sweeping, adopting parks, and beautifying cities. Working with local residents, they engage and motivate others and put in motion a cycle of love and kindness.

Radio and Da Ai TV
Dharma Master Cheng Yen believes that everyone can make this world a better place, by purifying one’s own heart and mind. As such, Da Ai TV Station was founded in 1995. It broadcasts true stories of love and goodness to rekindle one’s compassion, inspiring people to do good deeds and to allow the force of goodness to become the mainstream in the world. With advancement in broadcasting technology, the American audience can now watch Da Ai programs through cable, satellite and IP TV on the Internet.

Tzu Chi USA produces a weekly program called “US Tzu Chi 360,” which is broadcasted on Da Ai TV and other media. The program documents touching stories in the Americas that inspire love and compassion.

Publication
The first issue of the Tzu Chi USA Journal (Chinese version) was published in 1990. The Journal covered Tzu Chi’s various activities held throughout the U.S. and touching stories experienced by Tzu Chi volunteers, and how they brought out the principles and spirit of Tzu Chi’s founder Dharma Master Cheng Yen. In several cities, articles were published in local newspapers to tell the story of Tzu Chi.

The first issue of the English quarterly “Tzu Chi USA Journal” was published in 2002. The Journal has since become an important gateway to Tzu Chi news for non-Chinese readers.

To better serve the multicultural landscape of the United States, Tzu Chi USA has formed a network of translation volunteers across the nation. They diligently translate volunteers’ touching stories, news and Tzu Chi’s spirit into English, Spanish, and Chinese.

Tzu Chi USA Website
In 2007, Tzu Chi USA launched its English website at www.us.tzuchi.org, reporting on major Tzu Chi news and upcoming events from across the country and throughout Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean and Pacific islands. The website also contains special reports, disaster alerts, as well as spiritual articles.

In 2010, Tzu Chi also increased its accessibility online, on venues such as iTunes Podcast, YouTube and Facebook, as well as through subscription-based e-newsletters.

Jing Si Café and Bookstores
Since 2002, Jing Si Café and Bookstores have opened their doors to visitors at the US Headquarters in Los Angeles and at local offices such as New Jersey, New York, Dallas, Houston and Chicago. In addition, there are Jing Si cafés opened for operation in over 20 cities. Each location holds collections of Tzu Chi publications, including books written by Dharma Master Cheng Yen and other books published by Tzu Chi, magazines, as well as CDs, DVDs and lines of eco-friendly products, such as tableware and clothing items. Each of the eco-friendly clothing items is made from PET bottles recycled by Tzu Chi volunteers. This is a part of Tzu Chi’s efforts to protect our planet and to promote the concept of “coexist with the Earth.” Books and periodicals published by Tzu Chi are available at more than 120 public libraries throughout the U.S., including the Library of Congress and other university and community libraries.