CHEN,HUEI-MING   Served as Chairman of the Community Development Association for 7 years

The Qiaotou Community Care Center provides "local primary prevention and care services" based on the spirit of "community building" and "community independent participation". The elderly can walk from their homes to nearby care points to participate in activities, which allows them to get to know other elderly people and enthusiastic volunteers in the community, and everyone can chat and share their daily lives. The elderly can also use the health equipment in the base to develop their socialize life and maintain their physical and mental health.

Q1:When the chairman was planer the firewood just now, his technique seemed very skilled. May I ask if you have ever made Cypress Straw Hat before?
A： I have not made a Cypress Straw Hat before.But I am also engaged in carpentry-related work.I have not done the traditional task of planer cypress straw.In the 1970s, almost every household in Lukang was engaged in carpentry.A series of wooden furniture industry chains, from division of labor production, assembly to display, in its heyday, you could almost smell the wood fragrance of cypress. Later, with the rise of environmental awareness (Taiwan issued a comprehensive ban on logging in mountains) and the rise of China's manufacturing industry on the other side of the strait, Taiwan's woodworking industry has faced serious blows. At this point, the woodworking industry has become a "traditional" industry just like the Cypress Straw Hat.

Q2:What does the Community Development Association do?
A：In traditional society, it was very common for neighbors to help each other. The Qiaotou Community Care Center is also preparing in advance for the future super-aged society, using traditional caring to create a friendly community. We regard this place as the alley long-term care station of the Fuxing Township Qiaotou Community Care Base.
Every Tuesday and Wednesday, from 8:00 am to 11:00 am, there are activities at the Qiaotou Community Activity Center in Fuxing Township. Elderly people can go to the care center to stretch their muscles, have meals together, and it is also a good place to keep in touch with each other. We also organize professional medical lectures on physical fitness exercises and health exercises, blood pressure measurement, etc. These activities are all aimed at taking care of the medical needs of the elderly in the community.

Q3:Why is Fuxing Township Qiaotou Community willing to preserve the wood planing frame and twisting machine?
A：These old things can bring back the common memories of the elderly in the community. A few years ago, we also invited teachers to teach us how to weave the Lukang Cypress Straw Hat. The elderly kept talking about their childhood memories and stories. We are just trying to regain some of the community’s culture, life, and memory.
The community project allows participating partners to find the craftsmen who helped to weave the Cypress Straw Hat in the early days, relearn and remember, and review the basic weaving methods, with the goal of becoming seed teachers and then driving the regeneration of community weaving.

Q4:Is it difficult to promote the work of the Community Development Association?
A：Just like the Cypress Straw Hat in Lukang, the difficulty lies in the difficulty in finding a shavings master. There is a shortage of cypress wood, but we can still find alternative woods. However, there is no consumer market for the Cypress Straw Hat.
The community care centers that are currently being promoted have gradually transformed into long-term care station services. However, there are difficulties in preventing service capacity, resource connection and service manpower for caring for the elderly in the community. These difficulties include our lack of knowledge on long-term care to prevent aging, professional teaching course information, transportation, volunteer aging and learning ability, etc. These are topics we will continue to promote in the future.