3/09/08 - Second Visits to religious organizations (1)

I was quite busy after visiting religious organizations last time with other artists.
My friend had a beautiful wedding in New Orleans, then I, myself, had to do moving
with my wife. Life is busy, but also I was able to catch up with so many friends in New Orleans and talked about past three years after Hurricane Katrina. Fortunately, more people (though still not many) are able to move on to the next step now. My close friend's family finally started renovating their house! Yet, that is still a lucky case.
More than half of the original population of New Orleans is still outside of the city...

Speaking of which, I visited one more Buddhist temple today since their website grabbed my attention. They do relief to areas of the Gulf Coast victimized by Katrina. Tzu Chi temple is located on Northern Blvd near Union Street in Flushing. They are very modernized. Upon entering, their bookstore/cafe on the first floor looked like any ordinary modern Japanese bookstore - very typical (in Asia) nicely-kept Asian store.

Mr. Scott Huang came to greet us and soon started talking about our project. First he listened to my project very carefully but once I finished, he explained brief history of the temple and possibilities for how they could contribute to my project without stop. One person passed by and he called him and started talking about my project in Taiwanese. Soon, he told us it might be quite possible to make this happen with their school children. Then, we walked upstairs and looked through all of the facilities.


He never stopped explaining, but everything is very short and complete. He even introduced to their Northeast Regional director Mr. George Chen. I could not see any hierarchy and weirdness. Just amazing. In the end coming back to the bookstore, he introduced their precooked food and environmentally safe kitchenware such as portable chopsticks.

I do not mean to come across as cynical or rude, but I felt this is amazingly well done business style. I mean that in order to network their worldwide relief activities, they need very efficient organization. I can see how seriously they work for that. No one was rude to us or wasted their time either. Their brochure explain very concisely and precisely their mission and activities.

He was actually in the midst of a pretty busy schedule but within 40 minutes or less,
we were able to communicate and complete our meeting without missing anything.


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