Shirley Tam was born in mainland China and moved to Hong Kong at the age of five. In 1977, she immigrated to the United States with her husband and three children. Upon her immigrating to the U.S., her father made one request: that she spread Buddhism in the U.S. Though she didn’t know how she would do it, Shirley made a vow she would one day fulfill his only request of her.
As a Buddhist practitioner, Shirley began volunteer work that included cleaning state parks, visiting senior retirement homes, collecting used eyeglasses for developing countries, serving lunches and dinners for the homeless at St. Vincent DePaul, and visiting hospitals and prisons in Southern California. In 1995, wanting to expand her ongoing volunteering work, Shirley joined her husband, Danny, in volunteering with the IBS Prison Program.
Working diligently since joining the prison program to help those incarcerated recognize their potential as secretary and volunteer chaplain of the IBS prison program, Shirley is responsible for many tasks. Some of her responsibilities include submitting applications to the warden to visit prisons, coordinating with prison chaplains to schedule visitations, preparing reports to the parole board for inmates who are appealing, organizing annual fundraiser event and arranging the annual Vesak celebration in state prisons.
Fulfilling the promise she made to her father on a daily basis with increasing reach and influence, Shirley continues to spread the Buddha’s teaching to help those incarcerated realize they do not have to continue to suffer.
Updated: Autobiography of Shirley on 2014-07
