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In the evening of September 3, a crew of six
reporters from Da Ai TV and Rhythms Monthly Magazines
leaves from Taipei to Houston via Los Angeles.
They would join the Houston Tzu Chi relief team
with 30-plus members in a shelter at Beaumont.
Tzu Chi relief team members were preparing relief
distribution to the 1,500 evacuees at Beaumont.
Each evacuee would receive a $100 gift card, a
30-minute pre-paid phone card and a letter from
Dharma Master Cheng Yen.
On this Labor Day weekend, all banks were closed.
However, Tzu Chi relief team needed $150,000 cash
to purchase the gift cards for immediate distribution.
Many Tzu Chi volunteers withdrew cash from ATM
machines of their own bank accounts to gather
$50,000 cash.
Dr. William Keh, the Deputy CEO of Tzu Chi Headquarters,
welcomed the Taiwan crews while they waited for
the "red-eye" connection flight to Houston
at the Los Angeles International Airport . Dr.
Keh handed 10 envelops of total $100,000 cash
inside to the Taiwan crews to be brought to the
Houston relief team. The money had just been raised
by the Tzu Chi volunteers around Southern California
in one day's donation drive.
Meanwhile, in the Beaumont shelter, Simon Shyong,
Director of Tzu Chi Southern Region, was demonstrating
the proper manner of delivering the gift package
to the relief volunteers. He held the gift package
with both hands while saying "thank you."
Simon Shyong emphasized that we must deliver the
gift package to the recipients with respect, gratitude
and love because they were not considered as refugees
but as our neighbors who are going through a difficult
time.
As the evacuees came into the Tzu Chi Relief
office at the Beaumont shelter, they were first
welcomed with soothing soft music, heart-warming
greetings, and willing ears to hear their stories.
An ethnic Thai woman from New Orleans lost her
home to the hurricane, and was separated from
her children. She was touched into tears to see
an Asian charity organization coming to hurricane
victim's aid.
A woman came to the shelter to get medicine for
her sick husband. She also had four grandchildren
with her at the shelter. The woman's four grandchildren
are from four different families. All four families
have members separated during the chaos. She and
her 15 extended family members, including a blind
brother and a husband with cancer, now crammed
in a small hotel room. As a licensed nurse, she
wanted to get a job, rent an apartment, and send
her grandchildren back to school. She wished to
serve as a volunteer in the shelter after she
has settled down.
Many evacuees volunteered to speak in front of
the Da Ai TV camera, hoping to locate their separated
family members or seek job opportunities through
TV media. They would say, "My dearest daughter/husband/grandma,
this is xxx. I'm OK in the shelter. Where are
you now? Please contact me via the following number¡K."
One of the local high ranking officials offered
a lot of help during Tzu Chi relief process. "In
United States, nobody works the way Tzu Chi does:
directly and respectfully. Tzu Chi offers immediate
help to anyone who was identified as an evacuee
from New Orleans. Tzu Chi never asked further
questions," he told one of the local media
with tears in his eyes.
Later in the day, Tzu Chi relief team halted
the distribution because the team realized that
some of the evacuees tried to get gift card repeatedly
by sending different family members to the relief
office.
To ensure relief aid would be distributed fairly,
identification records tracking was enforced.
Dharma Master Cheng Yen also gave Tzu Chi relief
team a new instruction on the distribution amount:
==> $50 gift card for each child under
10 years old
==> Gift cards are delivered to show up family
members
==> Each family receives a cap of $500
A count of 710 people received Tzu Chi's gift
cards today. We would resume the distribution
tomorrow.
Tzu Chi decided to offer gift cards to the evacuees
currently housed in Houston Convention Center
and Astrodome at a later time because the government
officials told Tzu Chi volunteers that the evacuees
received very good cares from the government.
The shelter in the Houston Convention Center
was wide, clean and bright. Each evacuee slept
on comfortable mattress. Plenty of donated items
such as shoes, clothing, children's playground
and big screen TV were found there.
However, the approximately 10,000 evacuees housed
in the Astrodome were not so lucky. Foldable beds
lined side by side. The sanitation conditions
were terrible. Posted on the large bulletin board
at the end of the room were numerous notes and
pictures of many whom desperately trying to find
separated loved ones.
A black, female diabetic in wheelchair told Tzu
Chi volunteers, "I haven't heard from my
two sons for nearly one week. There was confusion
during evacuation. We were told that several buses
would go to the same destination, but they didn't¡K."
Among all the confusions, William Addison, 20,
with textbook in hand, can be found concentrated
on the math problems. We asked if he was preparing
for the school exam. No, he said, he just wanted
to pass time by reading. We saw hope in this young
man.
The Mobile Dental Van No.1 which left Los Angeles
on 9/4 will arrive at Beaumont shelter on 9/4
evening to provide dental services. Tzu Chi is
also evaluating the need for pediatricians and
psychologists.
After the evening meeting, Tzu Chi relief team
decided to first complete the relief project in
the Beaumont shelter. Tzu Chi will then focus
on offering care to Chinese evacuees, including
New Orleans's overseas Chinese students. The third
project will be offering relief and care to the
evacuees in the Convention Center and Astrodome.
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