Page 131 - 42-Winter 2014_Final

Cycle of Love
Tzu Chi in the USA
1989 – 2014

One Good Deed

Begets Another

David Kassel

In 2003, the Cedar Fire
burned more than two
thousand homes in Southern
California’s San Diego County.
David Kassel’s was one of them.
With the four-hundred-dollar
check he received from Tzu
Chi, he purchased boots, rakes,
hoes, and a wheelbarrow to
help him clear his property and
start rebuilding his house. As he saw other fire victims looking
lost and uncertain about where to go next, he thought, if Tzu Chi
volunteers could come all this way to help complete strangers,
then he too should do something for his own community.

Even though the fire left him with nothing, David still had
something to offer: his experience. A decade earlier, his parents’
home had also burned to the ground, and he had learned all
about insurance, contracts, licenses, and building codes. To
share this experience, he began contacting other fire victims and
established the Cedar Fire Rebuilding Resource Group to share
ideas and information while helping hundreds of people rebuild
not only their homes, but also a greater sense of community. Other
such organizations soon followed in the San Diego community,
helping countless people rebuild their homes and communities.

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