Many Tzu Chi volunteers wanted to help, even though they couldn’t go to the front lines to participate directly in the aid missions for Ukrainian refugees. Volunteers in Taiwan and abroad decided to make zongzis for charity sales to help Ukrainian refugees in connection with this year’s Dragon Boat Festival. (Zongzis are wrapped rice dumplings, typically eaten during the festival.) This picture shows volunteers making the food at the Taoyuan Jing Si Hall in northern Taiwan. They prepared 53,000 zongzis. Xie Jia-cheng
Because of the severe COVID-19 situation in Taiwan, volunteers in Daya, Taichung, central Taiwan, were worried they couldn’t get enough people to gather at the local Tzu Chi facility to create in time the 4,000 zongzis people had ordered. Thankfully, some volunteers decided to work at home to help meet the need. In the end, the 4,000 zongzis were completed on time, a labor of love for the Ukrainian refugees. Chen Li-xue
While the war in Ukraine was raging in May, COVID-19 was raging in Taiwan too. Volunteers decided to make additional zongzis to give to frontline workers in Taiwan to thank them for their hard work during the pandemic. Volunteers in Wuri, Taichung, are pictured here delivering some zongzis and apples to a local police station. Lin Hui-yue
