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In New York, Dr. Tso-Long Hsu greets each patient with a warm, genuine smile.

best to work together with widely recognized of experience at the Buddhist Tzu Chi Free Clinic
organizations to help disaster survivors. Even in Alhambra, California, volunteers began to
though their efforts were frequently rebuffed hold major free clinic events in locations that
in the early days, they kept diligently striving. traced the seasonal movements of migrant
With a spirit of gratitude, respect, and love, and farm workers to better provide care to this
a disaster relief culture focused on warm human underserved community. These movements
interaction, they slowly began to earn notice, took volunteers from Southern to Northern
and through their experiences, they developed California, especially encompassing the
the practical, effective system of distributing enormous Central Valley, which in turn inspired
emergency cash cards. the birth of the Central Valley Medical Team. The
Through book donations across the country, need to be more mobile and reach more people
Tzu Chi volunteers grew closer to their local also led to the development of portable dental
communities while broadening and deepening instruments and the fully-stocked Tzu Chi Great
their care for the poor and suffering. Because Love Mobile Clinic vans. These innovations
healthcare is expensive in the United States, allowed Tzu Chi’s medical service to reach more
Tzu Chi volunteers set up free clinics and health deeply into remote communities in need.
centers in Los Angeles, New York, and Hawaii All of Tzu Chi’s missions aim to purify
to help improve the health of community people’s hearts. In this period, more and more
members. Volunteers from the clinic in Hawaii Tzu Chi Academies were established across the
also served patients in several Pacific islands country, and all their classes began with Jing Si
through care visits. After earning several years Aphorisms and were founded on strong ethics

4 8 Tzu Chi uSA WiNTER 2014