Vice President presents gifts to disadvantaged families, children hinh anh 1Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh on August 6 presents gifts of the National Fund for Vietnamese Children to disadvantaged families and children in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre. (Photo: VNA)

Ben Tre (VNA) – Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh on August 6 presented gifts of the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC) to policy beneficiaries, families of Agent Orange/Dioxin victims and poor children in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre.

A total of 50 gift packages were presented to policy beneficiaries and AO/Dioxin-affected families with difficult background in Giong Trom district while 200 poor children in Ba Tri and Giong Trom districts received gifts and school aids.

In addition, Thinh, who is also Chairwoman of the NFVC’s Council, mobilized sponsors to donate 54,000 glasses of milk to local children and 50 million VND to the provincial Association of Victims of AO/Dioxin.

The vice president said despite Giong Trom’s efforts in building new-style rural areas and improving social welfare and living standards of local people, the district’s poverty rate remains relatively high with a small proportion of local households given access to clean water.

Thinh expected that in the time ahead, Ben Tre province and Giong Trom district in particular will strive harder to foster social-economic development and promote new-style rural building.

She also wants the local authorities to pay more attention to the poor and policy beneficiaries to reduce the province’s poverty rate. She looks forwards to Giong Trom soon earning the new-style rural status.

The leader also sent her wishes to the district’s children, hoping that they will achieve better academic results and the gifts will motivate them study harder.

Giong Trom covers a total area of over 31,000 hectares, more than 80 percent of which is agricultural land. The district has a population of more than 168,700 people and is home to nearly 6,900 martyrs, about 3,500 wounded soldiers, more than 1,480 Heroic Vietnamese Mothers and 313 veterans affected by AO/Dioxin.

It has a total number of over 7,400 poor and near-poor households, accounting for 14.35 percent of the population.–VNA
VNA