Remember kindness and strive for success!

(Baonghean) - Thanh Son border commune (Thanh Chuong district) is a locality where many organizations, units, and businesses have come to encourage, visit, and give gifts to the poor before the Lunar New Year of the Goat 2015. This care and assistance not only helps the poor have a warm Tet holiday, but also serves as encouragement for the officials and people of the poor Thanh Son commune to continue striving to improve their lives... In a conversation with Baonghean Newspaper, Mr. Vi Dinh Tan - Secretary of the Party Committee of Thanh Son commune - shared these sentiments...

Mr. Vi Dinh Tan. Photo: Van Luong

- Mr. Vi Dinh Tan, could you please tell us about the current living conditions of the people in Thanh Son commune and the results of implementing the appeal from the Provincial Party Secretary to join hands in supporting and helping the poor celebrate the Lunar New Year of the Goat 2015 in the locality?

- Thanh Son is the area that welcomed people from Kim Da and Huu Duong communes (Tuong Duong district) to settle under the Ban Ve Hydropower Resettlement Project. Upon moving to their new homes, the officials and people of Thanh Son faced many difficulties. After the district People's Committee approved the rural development plan, the commune allocated production land to 14 out of 16 villages; repaired bridges and upgraded village roads in Hanh Tien village with a budget of 500 million VND; upgraded the inter-village road in Nhan Can; and built a 670m long gravel road to the production area of ​​Kim Hanh village... Despite this, the poverty rate in Thanh Son remains very high, at 1,020 out of 1,181 households, accounting for nearly 87%. Because Thanh Son district still faces many difficulties and has a high poverty rate, after Comrade Ho Duc Phoc, Secretary of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, sent a letter calling for joint efforts to support and help the poor celebrate Tet, from around the beginning of January 2015 until now, activities to help the poor have been very active in the area. These activities include those of the district, communes, and various organizations, units, businesses, and individuals.

Besides the Lunar New Year, in 2014, the "Joining Hands to Help the Poor in Border Areas" program, implemented by Viettel Group, the Border Guard Command, and the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, provided 30 cows to 30 households in Thanh Son with special circumstances, totaling 450,000,000 VND; under Program 135, 19 families received cows, totaling 266,950,000 VND. Also this year, after receiving 18,000,000 VND in support from the Department of Justice, Thanh Son commune raised an additional 15,000,000 VND from officials and people in the commune to build a charitable house for the family of Ms. Lo Van Cam and her sister - an elderly and lonely household. Currently, the house is almost complete with a total value of approximately 33,000,000 VND. With the remaining money, we will buy beds and blankets as gifts for Mrs. Cam's family...

- Yes, and could you tell us specifically what support and assistance the poor people of Thanh Son received during the Lunar New Year of the Goat 2015?

- In addition to the government's Tet gift of 100,000 VND per household for poor families, the value of gifts from organizations, units, and businesses to poor households in Thanh Son has reached nearly 100 million VND. This includes: 30 gift packages worth 500,000 VND each for poor households and 50 warm jackets for disadvantaged students from the General Corporation of Transport Construction No. 4; 18 gift packages worth 300,000 VND each; 30 gift packages worth 500,000 VND each from Viettel Nghe An Company; 20 gift packages worth 150,000 VND each from Viettel Corporation; 55 gift packages worth 500,000 VND each from the Thien Tam Charity Fund; and 75 gift packages worth 300,000 VND each, along with a Tet newspaper. Besides that, Thanh Son commune also proactively collected nearly 10,000,000 VND from its staff, units located in the area, and well-off families to buy gifts for the poor. I understand that from now until the Lunar New Year, Thanh Son will continue to receive visits and gifts from more organizations, units, and businesses. For example, on February 8th, the Thanh Chuong District Youth Union will donate 25 gift packages, each worth 500,000 VND, to families of war invalids, families with disabled people, orphans, and poor households...

- Sharing difficulties and helping the poor is a beautiful tradition of our nation, embodying the spirit of "mutual support." How have the officials and people of our commune received the sentiments expressed by organizations, units, and businesses, sir?

- The officials and people of Thanh Son are deeply grateful and remember those acts of kindness. It must be said that the charitable programs helping the poor have greatly assisted the people of Thanh Son. With such support, the people have better conditions to stabilize their lives in their new homeland; it is a great source of encouragement for the officials and people of Thanh Son to continue striving for progress in the future. On behalf of the officials and people of our commune, I would like to extend my best wishes to all organizations, units, businesses, and individuals with kind hearts for a new year filled with further development and success...

Thank you for taking the time for this conversation!

Nhat Lan(perform)