The activities of local cultural and educational foundations can mostly be described with the word "prolific." The Penkang Cultural and Educational Foundation, for instance, has arranged no fewer than 90 lectures and performances in the year and a half since it was founded, and people usually think it must be some vast organization. In fact, the only person on its payroll is the executive secretary.

"Our drive and energy comes from a host of enthusiastic volunteers," says the foundation's executive secretary, Tsai Fen-lan, who points out that everyone on the staff--from the chairman of the board, the trustees, the consultants and the staff workers to the women who distribute the flyers--is a volunteer who has come forward of their own accord and is paid not a cent in salary. Their coming together is based on a common consensus-- that working for the foundation means helping their own community, the place where they and their children live--so they work especially hard.

Similarly, the Hsinkang Cultural and Educational Foundation has made quite a name for itself despite having only three paid employees. In promoting an activity, volunteers on the promotional team first try to determine what kind of audience the program is most likely to appeal to and then go about their work accordingly: for The Ju Percussion Ensemble, for instance, which is popular with students, they put up posters and pass out leaflets at schools, but for the Ming Hwa Yuan Opera Company, which appeals mainly to older folks, they go through neighborhood elders to get out the news. One month beforehand, an article on the program is carried in the foundation's newsletter; the week before, posters are put up in conspicuous spots around the community; and on the day itself, sound trucks mill about reminding people not to miss the show. All of these efforts are handled by volunteers.

"I remember Mr. Han Pao-teh once said you have to go out and deliver culture to people's doorsteps, so that's what we try to do," says Chen Chin-huang, the chairman of the Hsinkang Cultural and Educational Foundation. With that in mind, the foundation's volunteers even passed out leaflets and put up posters to sell children on the idea of using the library, probably a first for a local library in Taiwan.

Volunteer workers are also widely known for their special attentiveness to guest performers. One woman was moved to join the ranks of the volunteers after the Cloud Gate Dance Ensemble visited Hsinkang three years ago: "I don't remember what month it was, but it was a very hot day and the school auditorium was stifling. Electric fans would have been too noisy, so the volunteers hauled in big blocks of ice and they asked the volunteer fire brigade to spray water on the roof. They all pitched in like they were throwing a wedding in their own family."

Chien Shang-jen, the head of Tien Yuan Yueh Fu, recalls that when the group performed in Peikang, a pair of workers accompanied them backstage to serve them tea and snacks. "We had to rush back to Taipei the same night, and when we got onboard the bus we found some steamed dimsum wrapped in bamboo leaves on each seat. It was very heartwarming."

Among all the foundations, the one at Peikang may have the most strictly organized structure. The 110 or so members are divided into six sections on history and cultural artifacts, library information, artistic and cultural promotion, public relations, quality of life and planning and evaluation. Besides performing its fixed duties, each section also suggests ideas for special activities and carries them out after approval by the board of trustees.

Chi Jen-chih, who organized an exhibition of historical artifacts for the Lantern Festival this year, is an antique collector himself. Besides providing his own prized holdings, he also borrowed over 100 precious artifacts from other collectors for the show. For the folk craft exhibit beside it, Yen Tzung-hui dug up old cartwheels, door planks and ceramic jugs and created a miniature farmhouse. Three live lambs were brought in to mark the Year of the Ram, and a recording was played of a crowing rooster. Yen Tzung-hui found several volunteers to drink tea and chat while looking after objects--visitors actually thought they were part of the display.

Both these activities were planned and directed by volunteers. The secretary's office only offered a few suggestions on the side. "The secretary's office used to run everything, but now it's the volunteers," Tsai Fenlan says. "We could keep on going now even without one. That's the biggest achievement at the Peikang Foundation over the past year and half."

"It's very significant," Yang Tzu-chien adds. "If a foundation is run by just a few people, they burn out fast and it's hard to have a variety of activities. Relying on volunteers allows more public-spirited people from the community to take part."

Enthusiasm and hard work have never been in short supply at foundations, but overcommitment and overly high expectations followed by letdown and exhaustion regrettably occurs with the leaders.

Faced with the cultural poverty, religious crassness and vacuity of life at the local level, well-intentioned individuals often want to throw everything they have into making immediate improvements. But an all-out effort like that won't last.

"Every officer loves the foundation and the community. The more you put out, the more anxious you feel. You give it everything you've got, and then you burn out and quit . . ." Yu Li-li, who resigned as executive secretary of the Hsinkang foundation at the end of March but has stayed on as a volunteer, says in a tone of resignation. For her, having given up the cultured life of Taipei to go by herself to Hsinkang--without a National Theater, without art galleries, without coffeehouses--the foundation is practically her all. With her enthusiasm and idealism, setbacks were doubly hard to endure.

Tsai Fen-lan, who lives in the town of Talin near Peikang, is just 23 years old and full of energy and drive, but she also has times when she is angered to tears or doesn't know whether to laugh or cry: "When it was raining one day, a middle-aged woman thoughtfully offered me some paper to wipe my bicycle with. It turned out it was our news letter. She said don't worry, the foundation's loaded."

And in rural towns and villages where factional lines are often clearly drawn, "dogooders" are often suspected of harboring political ambitions. Chen Chin-huang says with a smile, "Wherever I go, to arrange an activity or to raise money, rumors follow me. Some people say I want to run for mayor, and the next thing it's for county council . . ." He only trusts that "time will tell."

Tsai Hsien-hui, a trustee for the Peikang Cultural and Educational Foundation, says that people interested in becoming volunteers must never do so with the idea of personal gain or advancement. "If a foundation ever loses its disinterested standpoint, it will no longer serve as a foundation for the whole community."

On this point, the Hsinkang volunteers are faultlessly scrupulous. Before the elections early last year, members of the various factions fought out the campaign by fair means or foul, but they all kept their differences separate from the foundation. And when the elections were over they all went back to working together for the good of the community.

The cultural foundations of Hsinkang and Peikang, which have been set up rather longer than most, both depend on volunteers to keep going, and the Yangshan Cultural and Educational Foundation, which was founded six months ago, also plans to bring in volunteers.

Money and manpower are the two essentials for a local cultural foundation, and volunteers both cut back on costs and provide needed human resources. The success of Hsinkang and Peikang shows that the community spirit still lives at the local level.

[Picture Caption]

This replica of a traditional farmhouse was designed and constructed solely by volunteers of the Penkang cultural foundation.

This little book cabinet shows something of the foundation's attention to details. The sign says, "New Acquisitions: Readers Wanted."

Chen Chin-huang, a doctor who works in Hsinkang, was the spark that started the cultural and educational foundation there.

This replica of a traditional farmhouse was designed and constructed solely by volunteers of the Penkang cultural foundation.

Holding lectures on culture at a stock brokerage firm makes for an interesting combination.

This little book cabinet shows something of the foundation's attention to details. The sign says, "New Acquisitions: Readers Wanted.".

The library at the Hsinkang cultural foundation is a favorite haunt of the children there.

Teaching people about local history and traditional arts and crafts helps them learn about their hometown and care more for it.

Similar habits and customs make it easier for fellow townspeople to join together in local cultural foundations. This activity was centered around Matsu Temple in Hsinkang.

Children are the hope of the future, and the group local cultural and educational foundations direct most of their efforts at.