Former Youth Volunteer Soldier with a Plastic Pig

(Baonghean) - With a piggy bank, Mr. Hoang Xuan Mao, Chairman of the Association of Former Youth Volunteers of Dien Thinh Commune (Dien Chau) has helped many comrades overcome difficulties and stabilize their lives.

Taking on the task of Chairman of the Veterans Association at the age of 72, he could not help but worry because of his old age and poor health, whether he could complete the tasks assigned by the local government, especially meeting the expectations of 103 members (?!). Therefore, he always strived to complete the task with the belief: "If you want members to stick with the association's work, you must create trust and a reliable support for the members".

Mr. Mao focused on helping former Youth Volunteers complete procedures to resolve policies and regimes. He directly met with each member to collect information and documents, and advised the Commune People's Committee to submit them to competent authorities for consideration and resolution. To date, 30 members have been recognized as war invalids, the rest have received one-time benefits according to regulations.

In addition, many former members of Dien Thinh Youth Volunteers Association are in difficult circumstances, especially 3 households are poor. To help members escape poverty, he initiated the movement "Raising plastic pigs to save money", this is the first Youth Volunteers Association in Nghe An to implement this movement.

Mr. Hoang Xuan Mao researches the regime and policies for former Youth Volunteers.

Each member family saves a certain amount of money in a piggy bank every day and every 6 months will slaughter a pig to help members in need. In the first year, the association saved nearly 20 million VND and raised 13 million VND for the fund.

With this money, Mr. Mao discussed with his fellow members to lend money to 3 poor households to buy cows, and at the same time, coordinated with the Farmers' Association and Women's Association to create conditions for these households to borrow capital from the Policy Bank to repair their houses. After only 2 years of helping, all 3 poor households have risen up to escape poverty sustainably and the association has also eliminated poor and near-poor households, 100% of the member families have achieved the title of Cultural Family.

After 8 years of establishment, the association's fund has reached 124 million VND, helping 35 members to borrow to develop their economy from average households to become well-off households. At the same time, tens of millions of VND have been allocated to timely support members who are sick, ill, poor students and support charitable and humanitarian activities.

Mr. Mao added: "The comradeship activities come from the enthusiasm of the cadres and members, understanding and considering the pain of their comrades as their own and their families, so they have joined together to help and take care of comrades facing difficulties in life."

In the movement of land consolidation and new rural construction, Mr. Mao called on members to take the lead as role models. Former Youth Volunteers members took over remote fields to speed up the completion of land consolidation, and donated up to 254 million VND and nearly 2,200 working days to build new rural areas.

Mr. Hoang Xuan Mao was twice awarded the "Former Youth Volunteers following Uncle Ho's teachings" badge by the Central Association of Former Youth Volunteers, and twice participated in the national advanced model... The Youth Volunteers Association of Dien Thinh commune is not only a bright spot of the Dien Chau Youth Volunteers Association but is also highly appreciated by the Provincial Association and the Central Association.

Mai Giang(Dien Chau Radio)