June 20, 2010
Reported by Chen Wei-chien
Written by Lydia Ma

YMCA's Changhua district has been reaching out to children from disadvantaged families by offering after-school tutoring and character education classes. This year, the organization decided to raise funds to buy tamales for these children in time for Dragon Boat Festival.

Chinese tamale, or rice dumpling, is a traditional Chinese food made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves and it's usually cooked by steaming or boiling. Tamales are commonly given as gifts during Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar or sometime in May or June.

YMCA staff began raising funds to buy tamales since April because they hoped that giving out tamales would help children from disadvantaged families to truly enjoy this special holiday and feel that they're loved by others.

In the end, though they only planned to raise enough funds for 14 families whose children were in their programs, they wound up raising enough money to buy over 13,000 tamales to give to more than 500 disadvantaged families in less than 2 months. These delicacies were all distributed by June 9 to all these families.

YMCA Changhua district General Secretary Chen Chi-chih said this is his first time organizing a tamale fundraiser. Though many people may wonder whether tamales will really help poor families at all, the main purpose behind this gifting is to celebrate and prevent children from feeling left out or depressed during holiday season because of their dire circumstances.

Chen added that when these children got word that they'd be getting tamales, they asked their teachers again and again when they'd get to eat tamales. Their anticipation inspired volunteers to try even harder in their fundraising efforts. They sought support from local police stations, government offices, markets, friends, Erlin Presbyterian Church and other local churches.

Similarly, volunteers from Erlin Happy Christian Homes (an orphanage founded by the late missionary Joyce MacMillan) have staged fundraisers during every Dragon Boat Festival for the past 6 years. Usually, they haul loads of ingredients needed to make tamales to the orphanage and wrap tamales themselves.

On June 11, about 80 women volunteers gathered at Happy Christian Homes as early as 4:00 a.m. to make tamales and live out their love for children through carefully wrapped tamales. The cost of all the ingredients was already paid for by supporters of the orphanage, making this venture a joint effort between those who have cooking skills and those who have financial resources.

The women first soaked glutinous rice in water before stir-frying it with other ingredients and then skillfully wrapping the mix with bamboo leaves. They divided up many cooking and preparation tasks among them and managed to produce 7,000 delicious tamales.

Besides distributing 1,300 tamales to financially strapped families living near the center, volunteers also bought some daily supplies to give to these families. Local schools, churches, and firms supported this ministry by buying the rest of the tamales. Proceeds from these sales will go toward meeting the needs of disabled children living in Happy Christian Homes, those who've recently "graduated" from the center to study elsewhere, in addition to disadvantaged families living in the area.

Taiwan Church News