March 21-27, 2011
Church Ministry News
College student and cookie vendor team up to raise funds for Japan
Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan
Written by Lydia Ma
Many people in Taiwan began praying and fundraising for Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, and college students were no exception.
Tseng Wei-tsung, a National Cheng-Kung University (NCKU) student majoring in industrial design, went out and sold 100 bags of Japanese cookies recently to raise funds for Japan. Tseng is an undergraduate student and a member of the school’s Christian fellowship, Student Christian Movement. He is also a member of Chung Shan Presbyterian Church in Kaohsiung.
In the end, Tseng managed to amass NT$5,190 for relief efforts, which will be wired to a PCT General Assembly’s account designated for rescue and relief efforts in Japan.
According to Tseng, the cookies came from a cookie shop near his campus – free of charge. It turned out that the storeowner wanted to do his share in helping Japanese people and asked Tseng, an old client, for help in selling these cookies through a fundraiser.
Upon learning about the storeowner’s request for help, Tseng went to his friends at Student Christian Movement for advice and they staged this fundraiser together.
At noontime on March 21, 2011, 10 NCKU students set up a booth near the campus’ business quarters and began their sale. Each bag of cookies was sold for NT$50 and all bags were sold within an hour.
“Though students are poor, we can still give Japanese people moral support,” said Tseng, adding that Japanese and Taiwanese people are generally very close and each familiar with the other’s country. Tseng himself had Japanese friends, had traveled to Japan, and that’s why he could empathize with Japanese people at this time.
However, he said his church had also taught him that empathy required action and that’s why he volunteered to help the cookie shop owner.
Besides this fundraiser, Tseng also spearheaded a “100 Japanese Smiley Balls” campaign in hopes of cheering up and encouraging Japanese people as they rebuild their homes. One clip features adults raising a banner featuring the Japanese flag and an inscription that says, “Go Japan!”. The other clip features children drawing Japanese flags.
For the adult version of the Japanese Smiley Ball go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVVKySvti2M&feature=player_embedded; for the children’s version of the Japanese Smiley Ball, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6UqUhUIMNI&feature=player_embedded
