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Volunteers in Vancouver Fund Raise for Local Hospitals 2010/06/16  Volunteers make vegetarian rice dumplings for raising money to purchase children’s beds for the Surrey Memorial Hospital (Photo by Wu Chun-fang, date: 06/03~04/2010; location: Vancouver, Canada)
Because of a shortfall in government funding, most public hospitals in Canada have private foundations to raise money to buy new equipment. The foundation’s volunteers in the city have over the last four years been raising money to purchase three children’s beds for the Surrey Memorial Hospital, which cost CS$150,000. Their most recent contribution is the dumplings which Chinese people eat to celebrate the Dragon Boat festival, which falls on June 16 this year. They made the delicacies at their branch in Vancouver; the fragrant smell fills the corridors.
"Today we are wrapping healthy multi-grain dumplings, which take a lot of work,” said volunteer Huang Yueyuan. “We started preparing the ingredients two or three days ago.” They carefully monitor the quality at every stage. “Cut off the bits that stick out, so they will not get caught together and rip the leaves,” said one volunteer. Among the cooks is Jiang Yueying, an elderly woman from Taiwan who is visiting her relatives in Canada. “Yesterday I heard the volunteers say that they would make rice dumplings today. You have to take the chance to do good, so I took the bus in the rain this morning to come here.” The freshly steamed delicacies are delivered to the doorsteps of happy customers.
 Tzu Chi volunteers of Canada raised money for Richmond Hospital. (Photo by Chu Hsin-hua; date: 05/19/2010; location: Richmond, British Columbia, Canada)
Meanwhile, in Richmond, a southern suburb of Vancouver, volunteers have raised CS$25,000 for the local Richmond hospital. The money has come in the form of donations from residents and teachers and students at the Tzu Chi Academy.
Lisa Westermark, chief executive of the hospital’s foundation, said that it existed to fill the gap between what the government provides and the greater needs of the community. "Health care is very expensive. Government funds are inadequate, so we try to make sure that we are providing excellence in health in our community.” She said that the money from Tzu Chi would be used to buy a radio frequency generator which can ‘turn off’ pain for patients. “They use this machine to freeze the nerve and it stays frozen for about 18 months, so they do not have to live with chronic pain.,” she said. “It is only because of you that we can do this for our patients, so thank you, thank you so much.” Earlier, the volunteers donated other machines, including MRI instruments. They are happy to help the hospital staff treat their patients and play their part in their recovery.
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