A retired Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) conductor has earned a name for himself in Chiayi, where he volunteers his time to help elderly people.
It has been 10 years since Huang Fu-tsai (黃福財), 70, retired from work, but he has never taken a day off.
Rain or shine, Huang heads to the air force base in Chiayi’s Shueishang Township (水上) at 1pm every day, where he makes lunchboxes and delivers them to elderly people living alone.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsun, Taipei Times
Huang said he returned to Shueishang, his hometown, after retirement to tend to his farm, which is adjacent to the base.
Over the years he often found himself interacting with people on the base, forming strong friendships with many of them, he said.
One day he was approached by an officer who asked him if he would be willing to distribute the base’s leftover food to the needy, saying it was a waste to throw it away.
Huang said he agreed at once.
Two years ago the base secured permission from the Ministry of National Defense to make meals specifically for the needy, rather than simply sending them leftovers, he said.
Huang said he is thankful to the base for providing elderly people with food, downplaying his role in helping the needy.
“I just deliver the meals. It is nothing,” he said.
Elderly people often eat only half of a lunchbox at a time, so he packs them full so they can be enough for two meals, he said.
Huang delivers meals by motorcycle to about 40 Shueishang residents in different communities, including Cusi (粗溪), Daku (大堀), Dalun (大崙) and Tugou (塗溝), taking about one hour to make the rounds.
He goes out even if the weather is bad.
“Seeing the elderly with full stomachs brings me happiness,” Huang said.
Preparing the lunchboxes takes between one and two hours, he said.
As he is familiar with most of their tastes, he customizes the lunchboxes based on their individual preferences, including removing the bones for those who like eating pork knuckles.
Delivering meals over the past 10 years has made him feel needed, and in turn has made him feel young, Huang said.
“Mostly I deliver to those in their 70s or 80s, but there are some in their 90s, too,” he said.
“I am pretty young in comparison,” he said.
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