New York Tibetan Community Needs Your Urgent Help!

Hello, my name is Dorjee Tseten and I am the Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT). With help from SFT members and supporters, I am raising urgent relief funds for the Tibetan Community of New York and New Jersey (TCNYNJ). Over the past several months, I have witnessed firsthand how the coronavirus pandemic has devastated New York City, turning it into the new global epicenter of the pandemic. The worst hit part of the city is Queens, where the Tibetan Community and the majority of its ten thousand members are located.

At this incredibly difficult time, the Tibetan Community has been active in supporting the city’s hospitals, implementing a community kitchen with volunteers cooking and delivering fresh homemade meals to hundreds of healthcare workers on the frontlines of the battle with Covid-19, as well as to sick community members.

The Tibetan Community has also partnered with the Tibetan Nurses Association to form an urgent task force to assist the elderly and those most vulnerable to the disease. One of the task force’s initiatives was creating an urgent helpline to support not only Tibetans but all members of the Himalayan community. This initiative extended much needed guidance and a compassionate hand to nearly 200 individuals and families in need. Another initiative headed by the task force was to provide Tibetan language resources on essential health information relating to Covid-19.

Now more than ever, the importance of community leadership and compassion is clear—it is vital for people to stand strong together and do what we can to support each other. Even as the death toll continues to rise, and the social and economic hardships caused by the pandemic push individuals and families into peril, the Tibetan Community is giving its all to the fight. Sadly, it is also particularly vulnerable at this moment as the shutdown has impacted the ability to keep the Tibetan Community Center running. The Tibetan Community Center has been shut down for over two months while the overhead costs are continuing. With no community activity for the foreseeable future, it is getting increasingly difficult to manage the costs associated with sustaining the center, which are nearly $50k each month.

For the past two decades, countless Tibetan leaders, elders, and community members have worked tirelessly, day and night, to build a community center for the benefit of all Tibetans in New York, young and old. This center signifies the preservation of our culture, where over 400 Tibetan school students learn our language, history and culture.


It’s also a public space where our elders can go for their religious and social activities. More than just a community center: it is our home. And today, I am asking for your help to protect it.  With your support, we can bolster the Tibetan Community’s urgent response work to fight Covid-19, and ensure the longer-term sustainability of this indispensable institution.


Please consider making a donation of any amount today. 100% of the all the funds raised will go directly to the Tibetan Community of New York and New Jersey. 

Thank you and stay safe!

Sincerely,

Dorjee Tseten 
Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet
Member of Tibetan Parliament in Exile


Message from Sonam Gyaphel, President of Tibetan Community New York & New Jersey