With her profound humanitarian love and great enthusiasm, Ms Le Thi Thu Diem from Da Nang’s Cam Le District has taken the initiative to help the needy in the city through her meaningful and practical activities.

Inside Ms Diem-initiated store for the poor where everything is free

Two years ago, Ms Diem pursued a dream of opening a small store which offers free-of-charge used clothes, footwear, learning tools, food, and daily utilities for those in need.

Fortunately, in favour of Ms Diem’s idea, Ms Kieu Thi Lien, the Secretary of the Party cell in residential area No 4 in the district’s Hoa Tho Dong Ward, allowed the setting up such a store right at her own house on Cach Mang Thang Tam Street.

Given the construction site available, Ms Diem raised a total of 10 million VND from her neighbours and other generous philanthropists in her residential area, and borrowed 5 million VND from her local charity fund in a bid to create the store full of human love.

Thanks to Ms Diem’s great efforts, the store, the first of its kind in the district at that time, opened to those in need.

Since the store’s opening, the kind-hearted woman has spent much of her time appealing for her friends, neighbours and others to donate their used items for the poor.

This creative idea by Ms Diem really makes it easier for people to donate and more dignified to the receivers.

Hundreds of sets of donated clothes are very clean, and they are displayed tidily with the intention of allowing the needy find it easier to choose the suitable ones for themselves and their family members.

In reality, the poor are very in need of such necessities some of which they can not afford to buy due to their financial difficulties, whilst there are many families which throw out a lot of used/unused clothes, materials as and when they get transferred or for other reasons. That’s where the idea of bridging the gap through such useful store was developed.

The store for the poor where everything is free has received high praise from local inhabitants thanks to its great significance, and it has also seen their active engagement in donation activities as well.

Ms Nguyen Thi Thuy, who lives in residential area No 4, said her family members have gotten used to donating their clothes to the poor since the store’s opening.

She said she feels very happy to help others, and this is a good way to experience peace of mind.

To date, thousands of sets of used clothes and hundreds of kilogrammes of rice have been offered free-of-charge to the needy.

Ms Diem (left)receiving the district-level Thai Thi Boi Award 2017 in recognition of her meaningful and practical programmes for the poor

Besides the opening of the store, Ms Diem and her female neighbours usually enthusiastically collect vegetables and fruits at the Wholesale Market from generous traders there, and the money generated from their sales go to help the poor.

An amount of money collected from the sales of such recycled items as plastic bottles, paper, newspapers, beer cans and scrap iron which have been picked up by these kind-hearted women during the periodic ‘Green, Clean and Beautiful Sundays’ movement has spent helping needy families.

To date, a total of 300 gifts and 2,000 free portions of meals have been given to poor patients at the Cam Le District Medical Centre.

It is hoped that such meaningful activities initiated by Ms Diem would inspire others to bring happiness to the poor in an attempt to make their lives better.