Tran Phuoc Lanh and his wife prepare free meals to help people in quarantine.

Every day at around 8 am, a group of 10 people is busy cooking at the house of Tran Phuoc Lanh and Huynh Thi Thu Hang.

Lanh says that since the beginning of October many Soc Trang natives who were working in other provinces have returned home and have had to enter quarantine in accordance with pandemic prevention and control rules.

The couple set up a kitchen to cook meals to help those people get through their hard time.

“Most of the returnees are poor laborers working in HCM city. I’ve called on benefactors to contribute to free meals for the people in quarantine. We try to diversify the dishes to keep them healthy. This is our way to support the local authorities in combating the pandemic,” said Lanh.

He and his wife have recruited four family members and several neighbors to help them. The kitchen has received strong support from donors.

Hang said that at 4pm every day, 130 servings of rice are given to volunteers, who deliver them to frontline workers and people in quarantine areas. The work is hard but rewarding, she said.

“My husband and I are in agreement about the work. I’m in charge of buying ingredients. Every day I change the menu to give the people a variety of healthy foods,” said Hang.

The couple has also raised 20 tons of rice, 700 boxes of instant noodles, and other commodities totaling more than 15,000 USD to poor families affected by the pandemic in Soc Trang.

Lanh is the leader of a charity group, which connects donors with people in difficult circumstances, lonely elders, and disabled children, to build charity houses for them.

Nguyen Van Hau, the Party Secretary and Chairman of An Hiep commune where Lanh and Hang reside, said, “Tran Phuoc Lanh's family has mobilized many people to sponsor meals for quarantined people and support the commune’s COVID-19 Response Steering Committee."

"We will review disadvantaged individuals who have completed quarantine to make sure they have food and other essential items.”