Elderly people devoted to charity

After retiring, in addition to spending time with his family, Mr. Ly Van Minh, residing in Thu Duc Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, began participating in volunteer activities, with the desire to share some of the difficulties with the unfortunate and disadvantaged in life.

Initially, he only contributed to building charity houses, giving gifts, scholarships, etc. to ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands. For the past 10 years, he has connected with friends from Long An province (formerly) to survey and build rural traffic bridges, give gifts, scholarships, etc.

Mr. Ly Van Minh (2nd from right) connects many retired friends to do charity work.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung (residing in Tan An ward) shared: “Minh and I are classmates. Minh and some friends in Ho Chi Minh City but from Long An will contribute money, while I will survey and contact local authorities. Currently, the group has more than 10 members, mainly retirees. Many times the amount of money mobilized to build the bridge was not enough, Minh contributed more. With responsibility and enthusiasm, Minh has maintained the volunteer group to build the bridge for more than 10 years.”

Tan Tay is a locality with a dense network of canals and many bridges are temporary, mostly made of wood. Over time, these bridges have deteriorated, making it extremely difficult for people to travel, especially during the rainy season. Therefore, right after surveying the bridge construction, Mr. Minh's group of friends decided to support the cost of helping the locality remove the temporary bridge and replace it with a solid concrete bridge.

Vice Chairman of Tan Tay Commune People's Committee Tran Minh Tuan said: "Uncle Minh's group helped the locality build nearly 10 rural traffic bridges. With solid, clean traffic bridges, people can travel and transport goods conveniently, the Commune People's Committee is very happy. Thanks to you, we are less worried and anxious about the difficulties of our people. The help of Uncle Minh's group helps the local rural traffic infrastructure to develop more and more synchronously, without the situation of blocking rivers or separating markets."

Seeing that the members of Mr. Minh's group of friends are over 70 years old, many people are worried that they are not healthy enough to survey each bridge and give gifts to the disadvantaged. Mr. Ly Van Minh confided: “In the past, I often went to charity on weekdays. But now, I choose weekends so that my family members can go with me. This is how I teach love and sow the seeds of kindness in my children and grandchildren. Above all, through such charity trips, many young people also volunteer to participate, contributing to spreading good things in life. Then, our group will have a generation of successors, continuing to bring love to rural areas and people in difficult circumstances.”

None of the 10 members of Mr. Minh's group of friends remembers how many bridges they have built or how many gifts they have given to the rural areas of Long An (old). We only know that each completed bridge and each gift given is the result of the consensus, joint efforts and determination of the whole group. Mr. Le Duy Nghia (from Ben Luc commune) excitedly said: "Our group continues to connect with philanthropists, build new bridges, helping people travel more conveniently and easily. Every time we participate in the inauguration of a bridge, we are extremely excited, because we see the humane value that the group brings to the people of the rural areas."

Retirement does not mean stopping working, but opening up opportunities to do volunteer work and contribute to the community. Mr. Ly Van Minh and his group of friends have been doing this very well./.

Proof

Source: https://baolongan.vn/nguoi-cao-tuoi-het-long-vi-viec-thien-a199367.html