Year 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of Tzu Chi Collegiate Youth Association. In celebration of the momentous occasion, members of the association (Tzu Chings) in 13 countries and 57 regions initiated a global environmental protection relay on 15 July. Here in Singapore, local Tzu Chings put up a beach cleaning exercise as part of the global relay.

Since 2008, Tzu Chi Singapore has worked together with Yuhua Community Club (CC) in organizing free health screening for the public annually. The aim is to raise health awareness and provide tailored screening in order to prevent occurrence of major illnesses. This is the fifth year of such event at Yuhua CC, and the first time the local Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA) has successfully undertaken major coordinating roles. It turned out to be a record-breaking year in terms of the number of recruited volunteers and participants.

More than a month after the Tzu Chi 46th Anniversary Celebration cum World Peace Interfaith Prayer Ceremony, the Singapore Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA) members gathered themselves once more to relive the touching moments of the event and to express gratitude to one another for the time and commitment that led to the success of the ceremony.

They were supposed to leave for Taiwan with team Singapore on the 20th of June for the 2012’s second Tzu Chi seminar for overseas volunteers, but team Sri Lanka had to cancel the trip due to unexpected change and stay in Singapore till the 24th of June. So how did they spend their 5-day stay here?

After a long battle with illness, Indonesian tycoon Liem Sioe Liong passed away in Singapore on the afternoon of 10 June 2012 at the age of 96. His third son, Anthony Salim (Liem Fung Sen) was a big help to Tzu Chi Indonesia and the Indonesian government during the Jakarta Angke River restoration project. On 13 and 18 June, Tzu Chi Singapore volunteers attended Mr Liem’s wake and funeral service to pray for the Indonesian industrialist to go well.

On 14 June, countries worldwide celebrate World Blood Donor Day (WBDD) with events to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank voluntary unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood. Tzu Chi Singapore was again accorded the Blood Mobile Organizers Gold Award in the Champion Blood Donor Recognition Ceremony held by the Health Science Authority and Singapore Red Cross. This is the ninth recognition the Foundation received in the past decade of collaboration with the SRC.

A new community recycling point was formally established in Bukit Ho Swee in early June, making it the first daytime recycling point of Tzu Chi Singapore. Like all of its other recycling points, the new spot is an amiable place where volunteers and residents work together to conserve Mother Earth. It also marked a turning point for an elder resident who was eager to volunteer and helped a withdrawn man to emerge from depression after suffering in it for more than a decade.

How much “resources” in daily life do we unknowingly throw away? Besides water and electricity, what other resources has Mother Nature provided us? On 3 June, 110 children from the Parent-Child Bonding Class embarked on an outdoor learning journey to explore nature.