By Cynthia Koons
The association's Flushing chapter, one of the nearly 170 that comprise the UN-recognized non-governmental organization, has already raised $110,000 through dinner parties, a New York City Philharmonic concert and collecting donationsin the streets of Queens and Manhattan in order to support its overseas volunteers. That satisfies just one arm of the organization's four-pronged Buddhist mission of education, culture, charity and practice of dharma.”Up until now, we have 170 chapters all around the world, so we have chapters in Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Sri Lanka,” said George Wong, president of the Flushing chapter. “When the tsunami situation happened, our volunteers went to that area to support drinking water and bring tents with food and all the necessities.”The organization, which was founded in 1992 in Los Angeles, has an active presence in Taiwan and other southeast Asian countries. It has a temple in Flushing at 154-37 Barclay Ave. where practitioners can pray, gather and meditate.Wong expects the entire international organization to raise $5 million for the relief effort. He said that at present the Buddha's Light International Association has raised $3 million worldwide.”We need a couple of years to recover from those kinds of situations,” he said. “Now we're praying to take care of those children that lost their families.” Wong said there are Buddhist volunteers in the field who have been attending to people's basic needs since a giant earthquake unleashed a tidal wave that swept over southeast Asia on Dec. 26 and caused aftershocks that continued to reverberate Tuesday when an 8.7-magnitude earthquake hit Sumatra. South Asian countries braced for a tsunami, but none materialized.”Most houses already collapsed, so we sent tents so they have some place to live,” he said.More than 200,000 people were killed in the tsunami and millions more displaced from their homes. The Red Cross relief effort has been one of the more highly publicized fund-raising drives in the United States, but the Buddha's Light International Association has been working quietly to raise money for its own volunteers.In Flushing, the organization raised money at a Taiwanese dinner party in January. The following month, two of the group's members, both musicians with the New York Philharmonic, put on a fund-raising concert at Flushing Town Hall.Those events netted $50,000 for the drive, Wong said. The Red Cross estimated in January that it would cost $400 million to rebuild the countries where the tsunami struck.Fred Fu, former president of the Flushing Chinese Business Association, said the Buddha's Light group is one of two Buddhist organizations that are well-known in Taiwan for their charitable contributions.”In Taiwan there are two Buddhist associations that are very big, this one and one other, and their purpose is to always do something good,” Fu said. “In Taiwan, we don't have a Red Cross, we have Buddhist associations. They want to spread their service throughout the world.” Reach reporter Cynthia Koons by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 141.
