Taiwanese temples donate festival offerings to support vulnerable communities

Temples in Taiwan are utilizing traditional Hungry Ghost Festival offerings to support vulnerable populations through local charity platforms and direct community aid.

In New Taipei City, the Sanchong Xianse Temple donated 15,000 jin of white rice and 800 boxes of offerings to the Social Affairs Bureau and the Sanchong District Office. Valued at approximately 1.3 million TWD, this donation is noted as one of the largest of its kind. The temple's chairman, Li Qian-long, stated that the surplus materials from their annual rituals are channeled through the ‘New Taipei City Good Days Charity Platform’ to assist families in need.

In Kaohsiung, the Cifu Temple in the Zuoying District organized a distribution of rice and food supplies to 602 low-income households. Following their Hungry Ghost Festival rituals, the temple provided nearly 1,000 bags of 5kg rice along with various dry goods, including noodles, canned fish, and cooking essentials, to registered low-income families and local charitable organizations.