Tzu Chi USA Midwest Region

Written by Tzu Chi USA’s Chinese Writers Team and Ida Eva Zielinska

Published #75 | Winter 2024 Issue

➊ Chicago Chapter

The Chicago Chapter’s second Jing Si Hall, inaugurated on January 1, 1995, is located at the Tzu Chi office at 28 N Cass in Westmont, a southwest suburb of Chicago. Photo/Tzu Chi USA Chicago Chapter

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On September 24, 2000, the Chicago Chapter hosts a charity gala for 700 people, encouraging everyone to do their part for the 921 Hope Project in Taiwan, a Tzu Chi initiative to help rebuild the schools that collapsed during the 1999 Jiji Earthquake. The sign language team from Chicago performs Grateful Heart at the event. Photo/Tzu Chi USA Chicago Chapter
On October 29, 2006, Tzu Chi volunteers from Chicago visit the Chicago Chapter's new building while it is still under construction. Photo/Tzu Chi USA Chicago Chapter

➋ Chicago Outreach Center

The Chicago Chapter holds a Grand Opening event on March 11, 2011, for the Chinatown Office (later renamed the Chicago Outreach Center) in a leased office space in Chicago's Chinatown. There to ceremonially cut the ribbon together are Mingshui Pan (left), Sangeng Tseng (second left), Gladys Ngema (third left), Tolakele Mchiri (fourth left), then CEO of Tzu Chi USA Choyen Ke (fourth right), then Executive Director of the Midwest Region Amy Hsieh (third right), Lusha Chen (second right), and Hsiao Chen (right). Photo/Chong Hsieh
The Chicago Chapter buys a permanent office space in Chicago’s Chinatown on August 7, 2018, and volunteers begin discussing plans for the extensive renovations for what will become the Chicago Outreach Center right away. Photo/Tzu Chi USA Chicago Chapter

❸ Indianapolis Service Center

At the inaugural tea party establishing the Tzu Chi Indianapolis Office on August 30, 1997, Tzu Chi volunteers from Chicago, including Lingchai Tung (middle), who would become the head of the Chicago Branch in 1999, come to help and perform sign language. Photo/Courtesy of Tahsiung Wang
On August 1, 1999, Stephen Huang (left), then Executive Director of the Tzu Chi U.S. Chapter, and Yueh’e Lin (second left), then Executive Director of the New Jersey Chapter, visit the Midwest Region. Lingchai Tung (third left), then Executive Director of the Chicago Chapter, accompanies them to the Indianapolis Office located in the home of Suchen Wu, who was then the head of the Indianapolis Office. Photo/Courtesy of Tahsiung Wang

❹ Detroit Service Center

On August 2, 1998, Stephen Huang (front row middle) leads a team to the Detroit Service Center to offer support, and everyone takes a picture with the Service Center's first head, Chinyueh Lai (front row second left), and other volunteers. Photo/Tzu Chi USA Detroit Service Center
On October 7, 2006, Hsiulan Li (left) and Hsiufeng Lin (right), who planted the first Tzu Chi seeds in Detroit, participate in a Tzu Chi event along with three trainee volunteers. Photo/Tzu Chi USA Detroit Service Center

❺ Lansing Office

Tzu Chings, volunteers from Tzu Chi Collegiate Associations, are the hope of the Lansing Office's legacy. When it hosts a Chinese New Year tea party at Edgewood United Church in Lansing on February 24, 2018, Tzu Chings take the stage to share their volunteer experiences and what they learned along the way. Photo/Courtesy of Huihuang Hsu
Volunteers bring their children to the Lansing Office’s Chinese New Year tea party on February 24, 2018, where by collecting change through bamboo banks, the children learn about how little drops of love – donations from people around the world – help those in need, which inspires each child’s heart and thoughts of goodness. Photo/Courtesy of Huihuang Hsu

❻ Minneapolis Office

In 1996, Minnesota Tzu Chi seed Yachuan Hsu (right) initiates a fundraising campaign for Cambodian children with anorectal malformations and, with fellow volunteers, including Lichun He (second right), visits the surgeon (second left) at the regional hospital where the children will undergo surgery. Photo/Courtesy of Yachuan Hsu
In 1996, Paolien Kuo (left) and the Minneapolis Office's then head, Yachuan Hsu (middle), visit a nursing home and offer their caring companionship to a resident (right). Photo/Courtesy of Yachuan Hsu

❼ St. Louis Service Center

In March 1992, the U.S. Chapter holds its first tea party in St. Louis at the Chinese Culture & Education Services of St. Louis, where Tzu Chi volunteers Hsiuyun Tsai (left), Chingchien He (middle), and Shuchen Wang (right) perform sign language. Photo/Tzu Chi USA St. Louis Service Center
On November 24, 1996, St. Louis volunteers hold their first blanket distribution at the International Refugee Center. Photo/Courtesy of Pichia Chuang
Between 1997 and 2008, Chisheng Pai and his wife Tsuiling’s home in St. Louis is a meeting place for Tzu Chi volunteers. Many St. Louis residents who attended these meetings later became Tzu Chi volunteers. Photo/Courtesy of Pichia Chuang

❽ Cincinnati Office

On April 1, 2007, the Cincinnati Office hosts its first tea party after its establishment. The first head of the Columbus Service Center, Shuying Yang (left), then Executive Director of the Midwest Region Amy Hsieh (second left), the first head of the Cincinnati Office Chengyueh Hsieh (second right), and his wife Lili Cheng (right) ceremonially cut a cake to celebrate. Photo/Courtesy of Chengyueh Hsieh
In this photo, on a return trip to Taiwan, Chengyueh Hsieh (left) and his wife Lili Cheng (right), who brought the first Tzu Chi seeds to Cincinnati, are taking the train to Hualien, home to Tzu Chi global headquarters. Photo/Courtesy of Chengyueh Hsieh

❾ Cleveland Service Center

Cleveland Tzu Chi volunteers hold a tea party on June 29, 1997, to celebrate the official establishment of the Cleveland Service Center. Photo/Tzu Chi USA Chicago Chapter
Tzu Chi volunteers bring their families to a garage sale at the Cleveland Service Center, located in the home of Amy Tsai (second right). Pictured are Wenli Tseng (left), Lichen Chiu (second left), Yufeng Wang (third left), Chenghsian Chang (middle), Tseng Wenli's mother-in-law (third right), and Hsiaoping Chen (right). Photo/Tzu Chi USA Chicago Chapter

❿ Columbus Service Center

On September 25, 1999, Weipin Chen (second left) and his Ohio State University classmates fundraise for the 1999 Jiji Earthquake disaster relief at the campus entrance. Photo/Tzu Chi USA Columbus Service Center
On October 30, 1999, Tzu Chi volunteers present a sign language performance at the Columbus Upper Arlington Municipal Center at a ceremony celebrating the establishment of the Tzu Chi Columbus Service Center. Photo/Tzu Chi USA Columbus Service Center

⓫

Dayton Office

Columbus Tzu Chi volunteers hold tea parties at the home of Dayton volunteer Hsiuke Chen from 2003 to 2004. Performing sign language on this occasion are Hsiuke Chen (left), Chiachi Chen (middle), and Haoti Ting (right). Photo/Tzu Chi USA Dayton Office
Chingpo Kao (wearing the blue Tzu Chi uniform), an early volunteer in Dayton, and others care for nursing home residents on April 4, 2018, massaging their shoulders. Photo/Kuocheng Lin

⓬

Madison Office

On February 25, 2006, the Madison Office holds a Chinese New Year blessing party at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Student Activity Center. Meilien Chen (left), then head of the Madison Office, attends the event. Photo/Courtesy of Yulien Chu
On March 27, 2011, Tzu Chi volunteers visit Belmont Home for the Elderly in Madison. Caring for the residents here, with about ten volunteers participating each time, bringing music, dance, and games to interact with them and build long-lasting relationships, was the Madison Office’s longest-running monthly program, lasting from 2009 to 2020, when it ceased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo/Courtesy of Yulien Chu

⓭

Milwaukee Office

On September 2, 2006, Amy Tsai (second right), then Executive Director of the Midwest Region, leads Tzu Chi volunteers to Milwaukee to hold a tea party at Chifen Li’s home. In attendance are Chifen Li’s daughter, Ching Lin (second left), Lihua Ma (fourth left), Meichin Wei (fourth right), Yuhua Yang (third right), and Shumei Liao (right). Photo/Courtesy of Amy Tsai
The exterior of Chifen Li’s house, where Tzu Chi’s heartwarming appreciation tea party on September 2, 2006, kicks off Tzu Chi’s presence and activities in Milwaukee. Photo/Amy Tsai
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