During a home visit, volunteer Lin Hua Zhen mentioned the health benefits of a vegetarian diet to Tzu Chi care recipient, Peter Chan, and his wife, Xie De Mei, and received positive responses from the couple. As such, she quickly took hold of this opportunity to bless the couple with a pre-CNY vegetarian reunion meal. After communicating her promises to this couple, Lin took time out of her busy schedule to personally shop for the steamboat ingredients and even personally prepared some vegetarian dishes as a token of her sincerity to bless the couple.
57-year-old Peter Chan had a fall at home, which worsened the condition of his degenerated spine and resulted in a total paralysis of his four limbs. In the aftermath of his accident at home, Tzu Chi has not only provided Chan with a wheelchair, but had also provided him with assistive computer hardware and software in order that he may be able to continue to work for a living.
On 26th Jan 2017, as the volunteers started arriving one after another, the sound of festive CNY music started to fill the once quiet house with festive cheer. A visibly touched Chan shared that as they have no children of their own, he usually spent a quiet CNY Eve sharing a meal with his wife and their domestic helper, and on the third day of CNY, they would visit a relative’s home. This year’s reunion meal has been made more lively and heartwarming by sharing the steamboat meal with seven Tzu Chi volunteers.
Before the meal, Chan, who is a Christian, led the group in saying grace, while the volunteers responded by clasping their hands together in attentive listening. Chan expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Lin for her care and encouragement along this difficult journey, and offered his heartfelt blessings to the team. Then, the volunteers blessed the gathering with a Chinese thanksgiving song before commencing the sumptuous vegetarian steamboat dinner, which they had prepared with great care.
During the meal, the team shared the benefits of a vegetarian diet and encouraged Xie to learn how to prepare vegetarian meals too. Xie expressed surprise that vegetarian meals could be so tasty and said that she might attempt to go vegetarian once a month or perhaps even once a week.
Chan reported of the good progress he has made ever since he started therapy in a rehabilitative centre and was very pleased to announce that he could lift up his hand. His doctor added an icing on the cake by declaring that he has a high chance of getting back onto his feet again, and encouraged him not to give up on his recovery. Chan also said that after receiving help from many people, his heart was filled with thanksgiving and hoped to one day give back to society in any way possible.
Share 
