PDF file - Community Services Center

newspaper content increased, and theHomemakers Union was often seenin the media.setting up an organizationwith a million dollar fundraisingThe Homemakers Union not onlycared about the environment. Inorder to give women the chance toeducate themselves in various issues,weekly lectures were held on topicssuch as parental participation inchildren’s educational, social safetyand daily vitality concerns, andattracted many people. Gradually,people were contributing to theHomemakers Union. Housewivesat the union started organizing anofficial foundation of their own(due to their inability to qualifyas a registered organization, thegroup was attached to the NewEnvironmental Foundation). Thegoal was to raise one million NTdollars, the amount required to beregistered as a foundation in thosedays. So, with thirty thousandhere, and twenty thousand there,one million NT dollars was raised,a n d t h e H o m e m a k e r s U n i o nand Environmental ProtectionFoundation was officially registeredin March 1989. A board of directorswas established. The first Chairmanof the Board was Ms. Chen Xiu-Hui,and the Vice Chairman was WangYasuko. This fund is still in theFoundation bank account today.Everyone involved in theorganization was very devoted. Thisgroup of people not only workedtogether as colleagues, they were alsopartners in social movements later.Xiu-Hui said, “We were passionateabout revolutions!” Indeed, we grewup together, and we are familiar witheach other. We worked together andwe took responsibility together. Thisgroup of housewives was usuallyseen at the foundation diving intotheir work with sleeves rolled up.Have courage to speak, beq u i c k t o a c t, a n d b e w i l l i n gto take responsibility are theHomemakers Union’s convictions,while Keep us healthy and keepTaiwan beautiful is the goal.Subsequently, the HomemakersUnion set up six committees thatincluded environmental protection,empowerment of women, educationand the establishment of naturetrails. Later, the union gave birthto the Taipei Parents Association,the Nature Trail Association, andthe Taiwan Homemakers UnionCo-Operatives. “A growing treemust branch out”, said originalfollower of the Union Chen Yu-Feng”The Homemakers Union shouldhave a lot of babies!”The know-how expressed at theHomemakers Union is a result ofmany people’s efforts. For examplemedia professionals taught us howto organize a press conferenceand write a press release. We alsolearned how slogans and pictures canbe used to good effect in marches,sit-ins, and protests. Many teacherswere pleased to give lectures at theHomemakers Union. They thoughtthat women with the urge to learnwere the most beautiful.a brief outline of the cooP taiwan:in 1991, the Homemakers union and Foundation setup the consumer Quality committee, bringing anawareness of green consumerism to the island.in 1993, the Homemakers union, striving for morehealthy food, adopted a ‘group purchase’ scheme,for the first time buying rice and grapes directly fromfarmers.in 2001, members participating in the group purchasescheme funded a co-operative, providing memberswith safe, healthy, and environmentally friendly dailynecessities.the Homemakers union co-operative is amembership-based life community which advocatesthat green Living must begin with food safety, andthrough the power of group purchases the cooPis protecting agriculture in taiwan, defending foodsovereignty, supporting environmentally friendlyproducers and helping to maintain the sustainability ofthe earth's resources.For more information, please visit: http://www.hucccoop.tw/index.aspthe cooP taiwan has a store in the tianmu area at2, alley 10, Zhongcheng road section 2. Phone (02)2837-7047.www.communitycenter.org.tw october 201125