On July 5, Tzu Chi Singapore worked with the Taman Jurong Community Club to hold a recycling event and provide free medical checkups for community residents.Located on Yung Sheng Road in the southwestern region of Singapore, the Taman Jurong Community Club includes classrooms, an assembly hall, an outdoor basketball court, and some sports facilities. For the event on July 5, the first, second, and fourth floors of the club were turned into a temporary health examination clinic, and the basketball court into a recycling area and a reception area.
The free physical checkup services began at nine in the morning, and patient registration was closed at four in the afternoon. The clinic offered urine analyses and checks on cholesterol, body mass index, blood pressure, and blood sugar, as well as medical counseling in Western and Chinese medicine. TIMA Singapore also brought in dental chairs for the use of the dentists.
Lin Jun-xing (林俊興), 62, praised the medical staff for being very kind and for patiently answering all his questions. “I hope there will be a free physical examination every year, because many senior citizens don’t like to spend money on checkups, which prevents them from finding any health problems at an early stage.“
The recycling area in the outdoor basketball court bustled as if a carnival was going on. Many people were busy sorting out truckloads of recyclables brought in by Tzu Chi volunteers from the local community. In one corner, some Tzu Chi collegiate volunteers manned a booth to promote environmental protection.Many residents had learned about this event as early as one week before when 193 volunteers promoted it in nearby residential blocks. Volunteers invited the residents to come for the free health checkups and to bring recyclables with them as a way to help protect our planet.
The residents responded warmly to the event. The amount of recyclables brought in by residents and by trucks was more than expected. Desmond Chan, general manager of Colex Holdings, a recycling company in Singapore, was on site to witness the event first hand. He was amazed at the scale of the recycling activity. He told Tzu Chi volunteers that since the proceeds would be used to help the needy, his company would pay a higher price for the 4,278 kilograms of recyclables collected this day.
