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Director of Dong Nai Department of Science and Technology Nguyen Thi Hoang is helping a local to get rice from an ATM.

Join hands in eradicating diseases

The program of “ATMs of Rice” was jointly held by the Commission for People Mobilization at the provincial People’s Committee, Dong Nai Department of Science and Technology, and Labor Federation of Dong Nai province for the first day and it was for the disadvantaged in Trang Bom district. In the early morning, a lot of locals gathered here. There were crowds but nobody jostled. Instead, everyone waited in line and keep a safe required distance.

Before entering the place to receive rice, locals were shown to go through a body disinfection cabin by voluntary youth forces, step into an automatic body temperature measuring position, and wash hands with sanitizers. All the equipment like body disinfection cabins, automatic body temperature measuring machine, automatic rice ATM, and so on are designed and manufactured by a research team of Dong Nai Department of Science and Technology to assist the Program.

Holding a bag of rice in her hand, Ms. Le Thi Sam aged 43, a worker who rents a room in in Trang Bom township, comes from a family with her old mother and two little children. She works as a worker at a small local factory and her husband works as a construction worker. As the epidemic broke out, the orders for her factory were suspended and she was laid off without getting pay.

“Now, all my family’s living expenses depend on my husband’s wages. Our life is faced up with a lot of difficulties. This amount of support rice gives us really valuable help and we are very thankful for units, local governments and donors and volunteers who have joined hands in helping people with difficult living conditions,” said Sam.

After the program of “ATMs of Rice” was held in Trang Bom district, it continued to reach the disadvantaged in other localities in the province. In Cam My district, organizers installed rice ATMs and donated 3 tons of rice to locals in Long Giao, Nhan Nghia and Thua Duc communes. When  locals come to receive their rice, each person is given 10 kg of rice, 15 eggs and 6 medical masks.

Not long ago, the programs of “ATM of Rice” and “Zero-dong Supermarket” that were jointly held by the provincial Confederation of Labor and Department of Science and Technology, were also held in Phuoc Thien commune in Nhon Trach district. Particularly, each labor union member and worker with difficult living conditions was given 5 kg of rice from the program of “ATMs of Rice” and a gift of essential necessities from the program of “Zero-dong Supermarket” worth VND250,000 each.

According to statistics, up to now the program of “ATMs of Rice” has been held in various localities in the province such as Trang Bom, Cam My, Dinh Quan, Nhon Trach, Long Thanh, Tan Phu, Vinh Cuu, ands on.

Leaving nobody behind

Head of the Commission for People Mobilization at the provincial Party Committee Huynh Van Hong said, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a great impact on the lives and jobs of people and workers, especially those of the disadvantaged, the lonely, and the elderly. Therefore, it is expected that all levels of authorities, sectors, and localities will promote their tradition of solidarity and their sprit of “The good leaves protect the worn-out leaves” to together overcome the pandemic and focus on socio-economic development.

Also, the leadership of the Commission for People Mobilization at the provincial Party Committee thanked generous donors for their practical acts and joining hands with local governments to help those with difficult living conditions and disadvantaged people to overcome difficulties caused by the impact of the Covid – 19 pandemic.

Appearing at most of the programs of “Rice ATMs” and directly distributing rice to people, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hoang, Director of Dong Nai Department of Science and Technology, has her desire to join hands in taking care of people having difficulties due to the impacts caused by the Covid – 19 pandemic, the research team of the Center for Science and Technology has studied and manufactured automatic rice ATMs. As a person comes to get his rice, he just need to press the button to receive rice with their feet and the rice in rice ATMs will automatically be released, which ensures social distancing and contributes to minimizing the spread of  diseases.

Up to now, Dong Nai Center for Science and Technology under Dong Nai Department of Science and Technology has designed 6 fully automatic ATMs and handed them over to localities for management and use to support workers and the poor due to Covid-19 flu outbreaks. After that, localities can rotate, use and support local disadvantaged people.

Currently, the pandemic of Covid-19 has shown signs of decreasing, social distancing has been eased, and a lot of of business activities and services have resumed. However, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are still quite bad, especially for poor workers and those with difficult circumstances. Therefore, the operation of rice ATMs is extremely meaningful, warming up the hearts of people with difficulties.

Duy Minh (Van Minh)