PHILIPSBURG:--- The St. Maarten Tzu Chi Foundation raised US$541 for students in its All Children's Education Foundation (ACE) back to school programme during a fundraising vegetarian food sale held on Friday, August 29.
The Foundation also got the opportunity to speak about the importance of healthy eating as well as provide information about the difficulty parents were encountering in sending their children back to school for the new school year.
Volunteers sold an array of meatless items such as spring rolls, croquettes, Journey cakes, patties, onion cakes, eggless cupcakes, vegetarian roti and curry, water and fresh healthy, locally made fruit and vegetable juices. All of the items were donated by Cake House except the roti and curry, which were made and donated for the event by one of Tzu Chi's volunteers.
Tzu Chi Commissioner Sandra Cheung said the experience had been a positive one. She said the Foundation created a lot of "good karma" during the event amongst those who supported the effort.
Several baskets of the vegetarian delicacies were also donated to members of the police force who were on duty at the Philipsburg Police station at the time in an effort to thank them for their hard work. Some positive words about vegetarianism were also shared with the officers. One officer could not believe that the item had been meatless.
A total of 19 volunteers participated in the fundraiser which was held in the vicinity of the Clem Labega Square from around 8:00pm on Friday evening to around 1:30am on Saturday morning and primarily targeted the persons gathered around the Government Administration Building to listen to the parliamentary election results.
Volunteer Claire Elshot said although the number of persons gathered in front of the Government Administration Building this year was one of the lowest she had ever seen; the persons who were there had been very supportive of the Foundation's efforts. She said Tzu Chi and its benevolent work had touched many patrons and she was happy to have been amongst the volunteers who participated in the exercise.
The proceeds raised will go towards to ACE students back to school programme, which will continue.
Tzu Chi Foundation Press Release
