Nguyen Duy Nam distributes boxes of food for poor people in central Da Nang City.

At 11am everyday, Nguyen Duy Nam, a middle-aged man from Da Nang, carries boxes of food on his motorbike to Trung Nu Vuong Road in Hai Chau District, where many poor labourers are waiting for him.

Nam stops his vehicle, cleans his hands and unloads the food. 

Labourers, mostly lottery ticket sellers and cyclo drivers, are asked to stand in a queue, keep their distance from each other, and wash their hands with sanitiser before taking the food.

As many as 100 boxes of food are distributed each day. Each box contains rice, vegetables, fish, pork and a packet of instant noodles.

Le Cong Toan, a lottery ticket seller who gets around in a self-modified wheelchair, said he has been forced to stay at home because no one was buying lottery tickets during the pandemic. 

He is lucky to receive the food because he can't make any money at the moment. 

“This is a significant act of kindness that helps us get through these hard times,” he said.

Huynh Thi Lan, another lottery ticket seller, said she was grateful for what Nam is doing because it has lessened the burden of her taking care of her son, who was paralysed in a traffic accident.

A charity group named Happy Food Court also offer meals free of charge for poor people in the city at 6pm everyday.

Nguyen Duy Duc, head of the group, said the volunteers cooked and distributed more than 250 meals for poor people each day and distributed them on Ly Trien, Phan Thanh and Trung Nu Vuong streets.

Duc said before the COVID-19 outbreak, he and his team prepared meals three days per week. 

In the past three weeks, the group has managed to call upon more donations and are now working seven days a week.

In Hai Chau, Thanh Khe and Son Tra districts, many charity groups are also reaching out to poor people in their localities.

Nguyen Binh Nam, chairman of a group named Loving Each Other, said nearly 300 meals were being distributed at five localities across the city each day.

Nam said he hoped the group’s work could help people overcome the crisis.

Meals for soldiers at checkpoints

Young people in central Da Nang City prepare chicken porridge for officers and soldiers at the city's checkpoints. — Photo tuoitre.vn

Officers and soldiers working at checkpoints in Da Nang have become familiar with the sight of two cars appearing at midnight everyday.

The cars belong to a group of young people who prepare meals for officers and soldiers at ten different checkpoints across the city.

Currently, there are 13 soldiers working around the clock at each checkpoint to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ly Tri, a group member, told Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) newspaper that the group prepared more than 100 bowls of chicken porridge for the officers and soldiers as a way of sharing and caring for them in the fight against the disease.

Tran Ngoc Nam, a health worker at a checkpoint, said he was tired working the night shift, but the young volunteers had given him the motivation to do his duty. — VNS

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