Ep 176 | Taiwan Cares Humanitarian Efforts for Ukraine Raise $9000 in 24 Hours

Mar 30, 2022

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A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

As she watched the humanitarian crisis unfold due to the war in Ukraine, S. Chien wanted to do something to help. She came up with the idea for the Taiwan Cares project and together with Dr. Monty Wang and Dr. Bo-Chheng Lin, mobilized the efforts of over 30 Taiwanese Americans from New Jersey to raise over $9000 in 24 hours. The funds were used to purchase and ship urgently needed medical supplies and baby formula to people in Ukraine.

Chien is the President of New Jersey Chapter of North America Taiwanese Women's Association.

Dr. Monty Wang is a retired physician.

[INSERT photo of Dr. Bo-Chheng Lin]

Dr. Bo-Chheng Lin, is cofounder of New Jersey Living Well Club and an elder of the New Jersey Taiwanese American Fellowship Presbyterian Church (TAFPC).

I learned about their project Taiwan Cares from an email that was forwarded to me with a touching video created by Shi Chien about how over $9,000 was raised in 24 hours in order to send humanitarian relief to people in Ukraine.

With everything that’s been happening in the world today, I think that we need

to tell more stories of the good that people are doing in the world.

The Taiwanese Care project team will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukrainian refugees in cooperation with the Taiwanese American Council of Greater New York (TAC-GNY) which has set up the Ukraine-Taiwan Humanitarian Fund Drive. Donors may contact them for details and/or send checks to:

Taiwanese American Council (TAC) of Greater New York

TAC / Taiwan Center

137-44 Northern Blvd, Flushing, NY 11354

Make checks payable to TAC/GNY. Please write the following as the check’s memo: Ukraine – Taiwan Cares

TAC-GNY is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. After receiving a donation check, TAC-GNY will send the donor a tax-deductible receipt. The fundraising drive ends mid-April.

This episode of Talking Taiwan has been sponsored by the Taiwan Elite Alliance 優社 and the Taiwanese United Fund.

The Taiwan Elite Alliance 優社 was established in 2000 to promote Taiwanese and Taiwanese American arts and literature, and to protect and enhance the human rights, freedom and democracy of the people in Taiwan.

The Taiwanese United Fund is an arts and culture foundation that celebrates the cultural heritages of Taiwanese Americans. Established in 1986, the foundation's mission is to facilitate cultural exchange between the Taiwanese American community and other American cultural communities, hoping to enrich and expand our cultural experiences. To learn more about TUF visit their website http://www.tufusa.org/

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

How the Taiwan Cares Project was initiated
Dr. Monty Wang talks about how he’s visited both Ukraine and Russia and his impressions
Why they only had 24 hours to raise funds
How the Taiwan Cares Project team partnered with a Ukrainian Orthodox Church in New Jersey to deliver the supplies to people in need in Ukraine
Why they decided to purchase urgently needed baby formula and medical supplies to send to Ukraine rather than sending a cash donation
How Dr. Wang planned what items to order and the quick turnaround time in order to get them delivered to the Ukrainian church
The Taiwan Care project will be a continued and continuous effort
How Taiwan has made disaster relief contributions to Japan (Fukushima earthquake) and Indonesia
How Ukraine’s situation is similar and different from Taiwan’s
China’s incursions into Taiwan’s ADIZ
How people from Taiwan have donated around $240 million U.S, dollars to Ukraine
The Holodomor, Ukraine’s Great Famine
Possible future initiatives of the Taiwan Cares project
The YouTube video S. Chien created about the Taiwan Cares project and the music she used for it
The Ukrainian folk instrument, the bandura that was banned by Russia
How they purchased 900 pounds of supplies to send as humanitarian relief to Ukraine
The design of the Taiwan Cares label and how it includes the Ukrainian words for “Help from Taiwan”