Despite their age, war veterans in Thach Thang Ward, Hai Chau District, Da Nang are actively helping others and giving back to community, thereby spreading love and kindness in their communities, and inspiring many organizations and individuals across the city to follow, contributing to ensuring the effective implementation of the city’s social welfare program, as well as ensuring national security and social order.

Members of the Thach Thang Ward Veterans’ Organization giving free meals to poor patients. Photo: A.D

Every year, the Thach Thang Ward Veterans’ Organization works with the ‘Loc Thien Binh An’ charity group to visit and give gifts to dozens of hemodialysis patients who are living in the ward. The majority of these patients come from Quang Nam Province, and they are living in rental properties located in Tan Hoa A 6 residential area for their long-term treatment. Most of these patients come from financially-struggling families, and they are unable to work due to ill health.

Apart from receiving free medicine from the hospital, each patient has to spend at least VND 5-6 million monthly on food, supplements, rent and other expenses.

Mr. Tran Phuoc Hoi , a resident of Que Chau Village, Que Son District, Quang Nam Province has rented a room in Thach Thang Ward for dialysis treatment over the past nearly 20 years. He and his relatives has gone through touch times when they seemed to hit rock bottom as he suffers from a chronic illness and therefore requires regular medical treatment while his family faces extreme hardship. Hence, he feels touched when receiving warm-hearted gifts and encouragement from veterans in Thach Thang Ward.

"The care and visits of veterans and kind-hearted people have brought great joy to us as they have provided spiritual support for us, making us feel comforted to fight  disease ," Mr. Hoi said emotionally. .

Moreover, during natural disasters like storms and floods or the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ward Veterans’ Organization has engaged its members in providing practical support for local social policy beneficiaries and poor people, contributing to spreading positivity and kindness to community, as well as embracing social responsibility, and inspiring others to follow.

A highlight of meaningful and charitable activities implemented by the Thach Thang Ward Veterans’ Organization is to regularly visit to give gifts to financially struggling families of active-duty service members, and discharged soliders who fought on the battlefield and gave their youth and blood for national liberation and reunification but now lives with a mental illness. This activity has been implemented for many years by the organization.

Cash donations by local militia and veterans are used to give gifts to these people on Lunar New Year or major public holidays in order to show the gratitude to revolution contributors. The gifts are considered as a source of encouragement for veterans to excel in life, and for active duty military members to feel secure and happy when they are doing their duty and carrying out their assigned tasks.

Mr. Tran Tuan Anh, a resident of Thach Thang Ward said: "My family faces material and spiritual challenges as we are caring for our son who is a discharged solider with a mental health problem. Kindness of local veterans have partly helped our son, and our family as a whole, ease the pain and torment we must have gone through the past resistance wars."

Furthermore, once every quarter, members of the Thach Thang Ward Veterans’ Club work together to implement the ‘Meals of Kindness’ program at the Da Nang General Hospitals and the Orthopedics and Rehabilitation Hospital. The program costs between VND 9 million and VND 10 million, and its funding is raised from organizations, individuals and the club’s members. This program aims to offer more than 200 meals that female veterans personally shop and cook in order to give free food to poor patients and their family caregivers.

Mr. Vuong Van Muoi, the Chairman of the Thach Thang Ward Veterans’ Organization affirmed: "Our Organization is ready to support social policy beneficiaries, veterans, active duty military members, and poor patients in an effort to share the financial burden of these people, contributing to providing spiritual care for them so that they can confidently move forward in life."

Reporting by ANH DUC – translating by H.L