Daily beauty

: The poor do charity They are freelance workers, still poor, but ready to contribute, contribute to charity, help people in the same situation.

Last Saturday afternoon, at the gate of the Rehabilitation Hospital (District 8, Ho Chi Minh City), an old man in worn clothes drove an old Cub 50, carrying more than 300 pieces of rice carefully wrapped in each box. plastic bag and put it lightly on the street corner. A few minutes later, a woman rode a clattering bicycle carrying two boxes of pumpkin soup. Next, a group of laborers in District 5 brought food to… Rice 0 VND full of meat, milk, fruit Dozens of people are standing in neat lines. Later, two elderly motorbike taxi drivers came to distribute tickets, reminding each person to open the lid of the box to make the distribution of rice more convenient. The menu that day included: braised meat with eggs, soup, banana, milk… A patient over 60 years old, standing on crutches in the sun, wondered: “Where can I get this voucher? Will I pay for the meal?”. Hearing that, a member of the group rushed out and helped him inside the line, smiling: “The ticket people are holding is numbered 300 parts. We’ve only distributed 100 parts so far. When his leg hurt, he stood for a while. the place to wait for the person in front to receive the meal and then we can help it.” The group “0-VND rice station” distributes to the poor in front of the Rehabilitation Hospital gate Another person, after taking his share, hurriedly returned to the hospital. Inquiring, he said that his name was Do Van Thanh, had a work accident and had 4 years of eating and sleeping at the hospital to treat his femur. The same amount of time does not make money but also costs an extra person to take care of. So, these charity lunch boxes help to reduce the cost of living more or less. “We receive free vegetarian rice every day of the week. However, because we are sick and need more nutrition, we are looking forward to the weekend to eat rice with meat. Every time I wait in line, I ask for more water. braised meat, save for dipping bread for lunch, rice for lunch, meat for the next day. There is a banana, 2 boxes of milk and more bitter melon soup stuffed with meat “- Mr. Thanh expressed . Ms. Le Thi Thu (54 years old, from Phu Yen) who sells lottery tickets for a walk said that if you go to a restaurant to eat a plate of rice with meat, the price is at least 25,000 VND, but the food is not as much as this place. “In order to have lunch, I have to walk more than 4 km, visit at least 5 cafes and have to sell 25 copies. If you save any money, you will have more money,” said Ms. Thu. “Next time I’ll add a little more” Few people know that the people who built this rice-dispensing point are people selling lottery tickets, freelance workers, including people who stay at home, even sleeping on the sidewalk. The common point between them is that they make 10 dong to spend 2-3 dong to buy food with their group members. They named their charity activity “0-dong rice station”, operating time is at noon on Saturday and Sunday every week. Ms. Tran Nguyet (living in District 8, a member of the group) said that once she came to the rice distribution point by chance, saw everyone preparing decent food, cooked very well, she ran home carrying 50 kg bags of rice, bought 200 bananas are transported to the rice distribution point and asked to join the group. Half a year this year, every weekend, Ms. Nguyet takes on the task of cooking soup or ginseng juice. On any day of exhaustion, she couldn’t cook ginseng juice, so she spent her pocket money to buy a lot of fruit for everyone’s dessert. As a regular recipient of charity meals, Mr. Le Thanh Tri (running a motorbike taxi in front of the hospital) volunteered to become a member of the group, taking on the task of distributing food. On a day when he can run many trips, he spends a little extra money to buy meat and fish. “I’m homeless. I sleep in front of the hospital all year round. Since the day there was a “0-VND rice station”, the meals of the sick and the poor were better. Received rice for 0 dong, seeing the people selling lottery tickets also paid for it. charity, I feel guilty so I roll up my hands to work together” – Mr. Tri said about the reason for joining the group. According to Ms. Le Thi Duyen (living in Ward 16, District 8), the group initially planned to only organize 1-2 meals and then stop. When starting to work, meeting the eyes of joy when they got the rice with meat, everyone discussed: “Continue to do it, when there is no more energy”. So the members share each part of the work. Cooking rice is done by an old man in Binh Chanh district, the soup is taken care of by a few workers and lottery ticket sellers. When you have a lot of money, cook braised meat and bone broth. With a little money, switch to making chicken dishes and the cost of each person contributes a little. Who has something, on the day of delivery, bring it to replenish. “All members are workers. Money is not abundant, but everyone has the same spirit to help with whatever they can,” – Ms. Duyen expressed. In addition, many small traders in Cau Muoi market (District 1), Hoa Binh market (District 5) go to collect food, vegetables and tubers for sale, preliminarily processed and washed with the group to make dishes. Some homeless people sleep around the hospital, when it’s time to distribute food, they run to help the sick, guide passersby into the line to get rice. Sometimes a few guests ride expensive cars, dress elegantly, quietly put down some cake, fruit and leave. Thanks to everyone’s cooperation, “Rice station 0 VND” has been maintained up to now. There is an opinion that giving rice to charity creates a habit of dependence. However, according to Le Thi Duyen, there are actually many people who need such free meals. If only because a few give up, many people will lose the opportunity.

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