A flurry of activities are being held nationwide to help poor people enjoy a nice and warm holiday as the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival, the biggest of its kind in the country, is approaching.

Authorities of Ho Chi Minh City are planning programmes for around 22,000 workers in Thu Duc district, who opt not to go home for the festival. Year-end meals will be provided for over 700 of the workers.

In districts 7, 9, and Tan Binh, where a large number of migrant workers rent accommodations, many landlords are busy with a host of activities, like the making of “chưng” cakes, art exchanges, and get-togethers, to help their worker renters feel at home.

This year, HCM City has spent 162 billion VND (7.6 million USD) on gifts and free bus tickets for nearly 300,000 labourers to return their hometown for Tet celebrations, according to President of the municipal Labour Federation Nguyen Thi Thu.

Meanwhile, nearly 1.5 billion VND (70,500 USD) has been raised by enterprises, organisations and individuals in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai to support poor households, social welfare beneficiaries, and people who rendered service to the nation on the occasion.

A youth group from the central province of Quang Binh on January 21 visited and presented Tet gifts to underprivileged children of ethnic minority groups, families of martyrs and wounded soldiers, the elder, and orphans.

The group also got involved in a friendly volleyball match and art exchanges with officers and soldiers at Ca Roong and Con Roang border stations as well as talked with teenagers and children in the local Thuong Trach commune.

The same day, local officials from the Mekong Delta provinces of Hau Giang and Soc Trang presented Tet gifts for local poor households and workers.-VNA