Tzu Chi Seattle volunteers distribute relief supplies to eastern Washington residents of Pine City and Malden, two towns hit by the Babb Road wildfire. Photos by: Courtesy of Tzu Chi Seattle

Two days before Thanksgiving, Buddhist Tzu Chi Seattle volunteers sorted and loaded food boxes for formerly incarcerated King County people living in transitional housing.

Sponsored by an anonymous donor, this was Tzu Chi’s second year of delivering food to Seattle-area people recently out of prison, and at risk for hunger due to the pandemic.

Tzu Ching volunteers offer hygiene and winter supplies to unhoused people.

Tzu Chi Seattle is just one branch of Tzu Chi Foundation, which operates more than 60 offices in the U.S., and also in 63 countries worldwide. Founded in Taiwan in 1966 by Master Cheng Yen, a Buddhist nun, the name Tzu Chi in Mandarin means “compassion relief.”  Cheng Yen was nominated for a Nobel Peace prize in 1996.

Due to a quirk of naming, Tzu Chi Seattle is actually sited in Bellevue, a fast-growing city slightly to the East of Seattle. Tzu Chi opened its new regional Bellevue headquarters in 2018 and then promptly closed it due to Covid, but the organization continues to run what may be the most robust Buddhist charity program in the Northwest.

Tzu Chi’s current food program started in the summer of 2020, after Joe Garcia, an advisor for the non-profit Re-Entry Corps., received an emergency phone call. The caller said many people in transitional housing were experiencing COVID-induced stress and food insecurity due to long lines at food banks and social isolation.  Re-Entry Corps helps former prison inmates re-enter society.

In 2019, Tzu Ching volunteers serving hot food at Union Gospel Mission in the Seattle University District.

Garcia immediately called Tzu Chi Seattle Charity Coordinator Ruby Wang, and Wang quickly mobilized “the Blue Angels.” This is a name given to Tzu Chi volunteers around the world, due to their signature blue uniforms. 

Within a week the Tzu Chi team identified 14 transitional housing sites where people needed help. Tzu Chi volunteers packed 42 food boxes with non-perishables like beans and canned foods, loaded them into a pickup truck covered with a tarp, and delivered the boxes around South King County.

From November through March the team delivered more than 9,000 food boxes and hot meals to people in King, Snohomish, Thurston, and Pierce counties.  Through contacts with other organizations such as the Prisoner’s Scholarship Fund, Tzu Chi also delivered hot meals, Safeway food cards, 100 blankets, winter jackets, sleeping bags, and PPE (face masks) to people living on the street.

Tzu Ching volunteer Evelyn Cheng, a senior at the University of Washington, readies for occupancy one of the units at Rosie’s Tiny Home Village.

The 2021 distribution project, dubbed “Food relief 2.0” is distributing food with a van donated by a graduate of the Re-Entry Corps.

Masked volunteers also have been visiting Recovery Café in downtown Seattle, providing requested supplies such as toothbrushes, socks, clothing, sanitary items and other requested items, to individuals suffering from  homelessness, addiction and mental health challenges.

At the University of Washington, volunteers of Tzu Ching, Tzu Chi’s student chapter, have been hitting the streets delivering hot pizza to the homeless. More recently they have been helping to prepare Rosie’s Tiny House Village in the University District for new residents.

During 2021 Tzu Chi volunteers also responded to the Seattle-area Hanover and Maple Crest apartment fires, delivering cash cards and a compassionate presence to people who had suffered physical and emotional losses

Tzu Ching student volunteers assemble chairs for Rosie’s Tiny Home Village near the University of Washington.

Hong Wen Charng, director of Tzu Chi Seattle, described how volunteers have adapted to the pandemic.

“At first we were shocked when our U.S. headquarters told us not to visit nursing homes,” she said. “Due to Taiwan’s connections with China, our organization recognized the severity of COVID very early on.”

She added that despite the pandemic-related closure of the Bellevue headquarters and temple, “Our volunteers are still eager to grow our compassion through daily service in the wider community.”

The organization was swift to adapt to the pandemic, with Tzu Chi Academy’s Bellevue-based Chinese language program the first in the country to transition to online learning. Tzu Chi members also quickly embraced online sutra study and prayers, and Zoom meetings for organizing continued relief missions.

Director of Seattle Tzu Chi  Hong Wen Charng stands next to Stephen Huang, (center), at the opening of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation temple in Bellevue.

As a response to the pandemic Tzu Chi Seattle also delivered 230,000 pieces of personal protective equipment, including high-quality air filters, to hospitals, clinics, and government offices.

A completely separate effort, especially in the summer of 2020, was Tzu Chi’s response to wildfires that struck the eastern portion of Washington state.

Tzu Chi volunteers repeatedly drove five hours to Eastern Washington communities impacted by wildfires, bringing cash cards and clothing, and offering emotional support.

Charng said Tzu Chi members have not experienced the type of anti-Asian hate crimes that have occurred in many places since the onset of COVID. Charng said she thinks people who target Asian groups have a narrow experience of Asian culture, adding. “We need to do more to help others.”

Tzu Chi Foundation’s Buddhist temple on Southeast Newport Way in Bellevue.

Tzu Chi Charity Director Wang added that Tzu Chi also has been reaching out to other aid organizations, to offer support to recently resettled Afghan refugees in the U.S.

The connection between Joe Garcia and Tzu Chi goes back to 2005, when Garcia, also a part-time faculty at South Seattle Community College, told his director that a new math teacher was needed to help recently-released inmates complete their high school education. Garcia added that the teacher also needed to have a kind heart.

That math teacher turned out to be Karl Su, a Tzu Chi volunteer. The relationship blossomed in 2008, when Garcia was invited to the Tzu Chi temple, then located in Kirkland, where Tzu Chi USA leaders were visiting from San Jose, California. 

The leaders expressed an intention to work with people transitioning out of prison, supporting them with basic physical needs like food and supplies, but also with spiritual friendship.

Tzu Chi Seattle volunteers and Tzu Chi USA leadership celebrating the opening of Buddhist Tzu Chi Seattle temple in 2018.

From this meeting flowers bloomed. Within a few years, meditation classes were offered at King County’s Center for Alternative Programs, as well as classes in Hua Dao (flower arrangement). Meditation classes also were offered at the Helen B. Radcliff Work Relief Facility for women, and the New Holly Learning Center on Beacon Hill.

Garcia said, “The goal is to help people transitioning out of prison to obtain good employment and to build up good karma as a contributing member of society, reducing the risk of recidivism.”

I will never forget my first meeting, several years ago, with Tzu Chi founder Master Cheng Yen. We met at the Still Thought Hall in Hualien, Taiwan a few days after a hiking trip with my daughter in the mountain highlands.

Master Cheng Yen asked me whether I enjoyed my trip, and I shared how beautiful the wild forests and mountain rhododendrons were in full bloom.

She smiled and replied, at once serenely and pointedly, “Far more beautiful is the scenery in the mind of a bodhisattva dedicated to the wellbeing of all life. Next time you visit here, I recommend you volunteer in one of our hospitals.”

This spirit of tireless dedication to service is intrinsic to Tzu Chi culture. Master Cheng Yen reminds all Tzu Chi volunteers that there are four principles to live by during the COVID crisis: pray with sincere piety, transition to a vegetarian diet to sow blessings, offer respect and love to all sentient beings, and reduce greed.