Provinces across the nation have conducted charitable activities to bring a warm and joyful Vietnamese Lunar New Year holiday (Tet) to impoverished households.

Northern Ninh Binh province has spent over 1 billion VND (48,000 USD) on gifts for local policy beneficiaries and war veterans and volunteers, in addition to presents provided by the State President.

On the occasion, poor families, low-income civil workers, families of soldiers stationed on islands and at border areas, and people living in social care centres received gifts worth between 200,000 and 1.3 million VND (10 - 60 USD) each.

The Women’s Union in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho has also given over 350 gifts worth 300,000 (14 USD) VND each to women from poor backgrounds across the province, along with 50 gift packages containing bags and notebooks to poor primary students in Thot Not district.

The Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh has raised 12 billion VND (562,000 USD) to provide financial support for disadvantaged households and beneficiary families, 5 billion VND (234,000 USD) of which came from the state budget with the balance donated by the province, organisations and individuals.

According to the director of the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, 8 billion VND (375,000 USD) worth of presen ts will be handed out to 28,000 local families of war veterans and martyrs, Heroes of the People’s Armed Forces, Vietnamese Heroic Mothers and Agent Orange/Dioxin victims.

Poor families, especially those living in remote areas and Khmer ethnic minority communities, also received gifts from the provincial People’s Committee and Fatherland Front Committee.

The Southwest Steering Committee has presented gifts valued at 1 million VND (47 USD) to 100 families in the province as part of the programme “Tet for the poor” and built 15 houses for families of on-duty military men at a total cost of 600 million VND (28,000 USD).

Meanwhile, central Phu Yen province has requested more than 271 tonnes of rice in governmental aid for the holiday to address food shortages following the long and severe drought that damaged 763 hectares of paddy fields last year.-VNA