The organisers of the 'Compassion Rice' charity programme is launching an appeal for rice and cash donations to operate the four so-called Rice ATMs in the city to help citywide people affected by the coronavirus crisis.

Foreigners (2nd and 3rd left) giving rice donations

The fundraising appeal made by the organisers of this charity programme has attracted widespread support among individuals and organisations across the city, including foreign nationals living in Da Nang.

Josephine Jones, a British national, has been stranded in Viet Nam for 3 months and she is unable to return home due to the coronavirus pandemic. She is now staying in Da Nang and will get home after the crisis passes.

Josephine Jones said that she was very impressed with the operation of the automatic rice dispensers which have gone viral on international media. Therefore, she has donated rice and some essential items to support the needy.

Manabu Shinohara, a Japanese citizen, has donated 1.2 million VND to support the operation of rice dispensers.

The Japanese man has visited Da Nang for many times. Since late February, he has been staying in the city. He has read about the Vietnamese-made machine on the internet and wanted to make a donation in order to support people out of work in Da Nang due to coronavirus crisis.

Mr Demaseure Thierry (left) donating 5 million VND in cash to Da Nang Newspaper Editor-in-chief Nguyen Duc Nam to support the operation of rice dispensers.

It is a fact that ‘Rice ATMs’ in Viet Nam have captured special attention from international media. Such big news agencies like CNN, Reuters, Strait Times, Bangkok Post and The New York Post have highly lauded the human values of such machines. When typing the keyword ‘Rice ATM’ in a search bar on Google, about 28 million results will be returned within only 0.43 secs.

In particular, The UK’s Reuters news agency has run an article titled “Rice ATM' feeds Vietnam's poor amid virus lockdown” praising the meaningful initiative for helping both disadvantaged and unemployed people during the ongoing pandemic.

CNN reported on Viet Nam’s Rice ATMs with a title “Rice ATMs' provide free rice for people out of work in Vietnam due to the coronavirus crisis” on 13 April.

Currently, our organisation, the Da Nang Newspaper, is partnering with the organisers of the 'Compassion Rice' charity programme to appeal for rice and cash donations. We have received generous donations from both domestic and foreign donors.

Mr Demaseure Thierry from Belgium has visited our headquarters at 33 Le Loi Street to donate 5 million VND in cash to support the operation of rice dispensers in the city.

The foreign kind-hearted man said he knew information about the ‘Compassion Rice’ charity programme after reading an article titled ‘Da Nang Newspaper gets generous donations from local donors to support Rice ATMs’ on the newspaper’s English online version called DA NANG Today. After that, he asked some of his friends for the reliable organisations to give donations, and he finally decided to choose the Da Nang Newspaper.

Mr Nguyen Hong Cuong, Vice Chairman of the municipal Young Entrepreneurs' Association, said “We treasure all donations by philanthropists, including expats living in Da Nang, for the needy amid COVID-19. We are looking to get more donations to operate the rice dispensers until June in a bid to help those affected by the disease overcome their difficulties”.

By MAI QUE - Translated by MAI DUNG