The ATAYAL organization and Taipei Volunteer Fire Department have teamed up with the Community Services Center to sponsor a clothing and toy drive for members of Wulai’s (烏來) Atayal indigenous community. Donations can be dropped off at the Community Services Center or taken directly to an event this Sunday afternoon to be held in front of the Atayal Museum (泰雅民族博物館) in Wulai.
Activities will include Christmas caroling and a raffle for a mountain bike and children can have their photos taken with Santa Claus.
“The donation drive for the people in Wulai is the first one of many that we hope to do,” says Gary Smoke, fire marshal of the Taipei Volunteer Fire Department. “Our involvement is to give something back to Taiwan.”
Photo courtesy of Tony Coolidge
The Wulai Christmas clothing and toy drive was inspired in part by the Wufeng Project (五峰計畫), a volunteer-driven initiative to build a community center for Atayal people in Cingcyuan (清泉), Hsinchu County. The project organized photography and art workshops for children in Cingcyuan and auctioned their creations to raise NT$2.1 million for the center.
Organizers of the Wulai drive hope to emulate the Wufeng Project, says Tony Coolidge (陳華友), the head of ATAYAL, an American nonprofit organization that seeks to make connections between members of indigenous tribes in Taiwan and the US.
“I’ve been seeing this growing awareness and interest in the expat community to reach out to indigenous people,” says Coolidge, who is a member of the Atayal tribe and was born in Wulai. “We’re hoping that this is a small thing that can grow into something more.”
Smoke says he hopes that the Taipei Volunteer Fire Department and ATAYAL can also help forge a relationship between the Atayal community and members of indigenous tribes in the northwest US to facilitate cultural exchanges and study abroad programs.
The organizers of the toy and clothing drive will work with Hsinhsien Church (信賢教會) in Wulai to distribute items to children. Coolidge says the drive will focus on children living in single-parent households or those left with relatives while their parents seek work in cities. Items will also be given to children in families that have been affected by alcoholism.
The greatest need is for school-age children’s clothing, as well as arts and crafts supplies and educational toys targeted to children age 12 or younger. Sports equipment, including basketballs and baseballs, is also in demand.
Donations of secondhand computers are welcome. Smoke says members of the Taipei Volunteer Fire Department will repair computers and use them to create a network for the Atayal community in Wulai.
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