Inspired by the success of the Ice Bucket Challenge that helped raise funds for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients last summer, a group called “Do You a Flavor,” working to help homeless people, has challenged the public to share a meal with the homeless before nominating their friends to do the same.
The group’s founders, Chu Kuan-chen (朱冠蓁), Wu Yen-te (巫彥德) and Chang Shu-huai (張書懷), all in their mid-20s, came up with the idea to collect spare commodities for the homeless after they saw vagrants being refused provisions that were abundant, but intended for Sunflower movement protesters last year during their occupation of the legislature’s main chamber over the government’s handling of the cross-strait service trade pact.
Saying that she had never come in contact with any homeless people prior to the group’s first act of charity, Chu said that she was clueless about starting a conversation with them when she went to Taipei’s Longshan Temple (龍山寺), around which live many homeless people, to give out a box full of food.
However, a simple greeting like: “Hello, have you eaten?” was enough to break the ice, she said.
After their first outreach to the homeless, the group organized a “Stone Soup” project to collect spare food via social media, and they received a great deal of ingredients and condiments gathered from the corners of many refrigerators.
The project was derived from a folk tale in which three hungry soldiers offer to make a pot of “stone soup” that everyone can enjoy, provided that people were willing to share their spare food.
“I could not have foreseen such a generous response when we organized the event, which I thought was just an one-off,” Wu said.
The group has since collected ingredients online every month and made use of all the kitchens available to them to prepare a “picnic” for up to 80 homeless people at Taipei Main Station, the group’s organizers said.
Seasonal delicacies are occasionally prepared as well, the organizers said.
More than 40 volunteers have joined their cause, adding flavor and warmth to the stone soup, they added.
The monthly picnic is to be upgraded to a year-end dinner party every January and February, the time in which most businesses hold a year-end party, they said.
“What gets left on the dinner tables is undoubtedly the spare food we need,” Chu said.
While people usually have no difficulty supporting disadvantaged people through welfare organizations, they often ignore the hardships of the people they meet on the streets, she added.
The group therefore called for everyone’s help to collect any spare food at their year-end parties to feed the homeless, she said.
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