Creating a solid "people's heart position" - Part 1: Spreading the morality of "When drinking water, remember its source"

Up to now, the whole province has been paying regular allowances to 68,455 policy beneficiaries and people with revolutionary contributions with a payment amount of over 130 billion VND/month. In addition, the province has settled funeral allowances for resistance fighters and people with revolutionary contributions who were awarded Resistance Medals and Orders who have passed away: 3,037 cases, with an amount of 42,482,000,000 VND; settled one-time allowances equal to 3 months of allowances and subsidies for people with revolutionary contributions who have passed away: 1,867 cases with an amount of 11,062,129,000 VND; settled funeral allowances for people with revolutionary contributions who have passed away with monthly allowances in 1,349 cases with an amount of over 19.3 billion VND; Resolve funeral allowances from the provincial budget for veterans, former youth volunteers, frontline workers and one-time allowance recipients for 3,607 cases, with an amount of more than 53 billion VND.

In addition, in Nghe An province, support policies for meritorious people in poor households according to Resolution 32/NQ-HDND have also been implemented since the end of 2021 for more than 2,700 subjects with a total budget of up to 18 billion VND; The province also issued Resolution No. 30/2021/NQ-HDND dated December 9, 2021 on support for the third generation of resistance fighters infected with toxic chemicals. Although the support source for each subject is not much, it is enough to warm the hearts of families whose grandchildren have suffered from the consequences of being infected with toxic chemicals from their grandparents.

Although the work of resolving policies for people with meritorious services has been taken care of, there are still many wounded and sick soldiers who have not had access to the humane policies of the Party and the State due to lack of necessary documents. According to the representative of the Department of People with Meritorious Services, Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs, the Department has coordinated with relevant departments and branches to implement a new subsidy regime for 931 cases receiving regular subsidies, including: Increasing the number of newly wounded soldiers and people receiving policies like wounded soldiers to 265 people; adjusting the allowance for sick soldiers for 30 people; chemical toxins for 140 people... According to Mr. Doan Hong Vu - Director of the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs: The Department continues to coordinate with localities and other functional branches to continue helping those who have not been recognized as wounded and sick soldiers because of insufficient documents.

In late July, we returned to Block 3, Nghi Hoa Ward (Cua Lo Town), and visited Mrs. Truong Thi Vinh (born in 1946), the wife of martyr Nguyen Trong Vinh. Her husband died in the resistance war against the US to save the country. When her daughter was just born, Mrs. Vinh worked hard to raise her children alone. Now she is 76 years old, and her daughter has a family and a life of her own. Facing old age alone, weak health and illness, daily expenses mainly depend on the allowance for the wife of a martyr, so life is extremely difficult. The house is dilapidated and seriously degraded, but without money to repair it, Mrs. Vinh has to endure the rain and leaks on all sides. Mrs. Vinh's greatest wish is to have a house, although small, that is sturdy against the sun and rain, and a decent place to worship her husband.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh - Chairwoman of the Fatherland Front Committee of Nghi Hoa Ward said: “Understanding the difficulties of Mrs. Truong Thi Vinh, the ward has proposed that the town mobilize units, businesses and individuals to support the construction of a house of gratitude. The town allocated 40 million VND from the Gratitude Fund, the Provincial Association for Supporting Families of Martyrs supported 50 million VND and a number of organizations and individuals have participated in supporting. The house is in the process of completion, in the next few weeks Mrs. Vinh will have a solid and warm house…”.

As for the family of Mr. Phan Quoc Tinh (born in 1957) in Hamlet 4, Tam Son Commune, Anh Son District. Having fought and been wounded on the Cambodian battlefield, the after-effects of war have greatly affected their health, affecting their daily life and production. Mr. Tinh and his wife are both in poor health, sometimes constantly sick, no longer strong enough to plow and hoe, so they have almost no source of income. The children have moved out but their circumstances are difficult, and they cannot help their parents much. The house was built many years ago, and was previously built in a low position, so whenever it rained heavily, the house was flooded, and the couple had to evacuate their belongings to a neighbor's house.

Faced with the difficult situation of war invalid Phan Quoc Tinh, the People's Committee of Tam Son commune asked Anh Son district to support moving the house to a higher location. The district has connected with a press agency in Hanoi to support Mr. Tinh's family with 50 million VND. In addition, Mr. Tinh also received support from local departments, branches, organizations, neighbors and relatives to complete the house on time for the 75th anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs Day. On this occasion, many policy families in the province received warm and affectionate houses. The joy of war invalid Nguyen Ngoc Ke in Quynh Nghia commune (Quynh Luu), war invalid Nguyen Xuan Hoat in Nghi Thiet commune (Nghi Loc), Mrs. Tran Thi Tu (wife of a war invalid) in Nam Thanh commune (Nam Dan)...

Many people in localities in the province share the same opinion that the work of caring for the lives of policy beneficiaries and people with meritorious services is always of interest to authorities at all levels, sectors and the entire community and society. Families of martyrs, wounded and sick soldiers who have difficulty with housing are supported to build gratitude houses; Vietnamese heroic mothers are cared for and supported.

Currently, the whole province has 61 Vietnamese heroic mothers still alive, all of whom are being cared for. With the philosophy of “When drinking water, remember its source”, “When eating fruit, remember the person who planted the tree”, many agencies, units and enterprises have taken care of Vietnamese heroic mothers; monthly giving money to care for them, organizing visits, encouraging and giving gifts to mothers on holidays and Tet; taking good care of mothers when they are sick, considering them as family members…

Over the past 10 years, the province has allocated the Gratitude Fund and other sources of support to build nearly 4,550 gratitude houses with a total cost of more than 119 billion VND. Notably, the Nghe An Association for Supporting Families of Martyrs has mobilized 39.5 billion VND in 7 years, supporting the construction of 426 gratitude houses and presenting 348 savings books to policy families. Mr. Ho Duc Thanh - Chairman of the Association said: "We always seek the consensus and support of provincial leaders and organizations, unions as well as localities. At the same time, we mobilize and call for contributions and support from businesses and philanthropists to support the housing needs of policy families in the spirit of dedication, effort, clarity and transparency".

With the sharing, contribution and help of comrades, many wounded soldiers have been supported with houses of "comradeship". A typical example is the way the Navy Veterans Liaison Committee in Nghe - Tinh area has done. After verifying that members are in difficult circumstances and have housing needs, the Liaison Committee prepares a profile to request support from the Navy. After the review process, the Navy will assign the responsibility to the member's former unit to mobilize funds to support the construction of houses of gratitude. With this method, 32 families of members have been supported to build new houses, 6 families have been supported to renovate their houses, bringing joy and happiness to the unfortunate veterans.

Mobilizing support for building gratitude houses, caring for and supporting Vietnamese heroic mothers, and visiting revolutionary veterans, war invalids, sick soldiers, families with meritorious services, and people with meritorious services are practical activities with profound political and social significance. Therefore, the Provincial Military Command always pays special attention to the movement of "Repaying gratitude", especially the construction of gratitude houses. Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Trong Loc - Deputy Head of Political Department said: "From 2015 to now, the unit has mobilized support for building 44 gratitude houses with a total cost of more than 3 billion VND. Of which, 5 houses were mobilized from the budget of the Provincial Military Command, the rest were from the budget of the Ministry of National Defense, Military Region 4 and socialized sources".

The temporary houses that have been replaced with solid houses not only help families with policies have a stable place to eat and live, but also demonstrate the spirit of mutual love and support of the whole community towards families of war invalids and martyrs in difficult circumstances. This is also the bridge to bring the Party's policies into practice, a great source of encouragement for families to be confident, overcome difficulties to build a prosperous and happy life, contributing to the effective implementation of the military rear policy.