Turning away from the trite and hollow expression of love and sympathy, Nguyen Thi Huong has chosen a practical and helpful way: connecting young people to do social work for raising funds to help poor children.

The woman, who has just graduated first from a pedagogy school for kindergarten teachers, decided to work more for the benefits of children, especially the underprivileged ones.

She persuades young people in her locality to do different seasonal jobs to raise funds by selling flowers on festivals, doing clean-up at restaurants, and collecting scraps.

All the proceeds from the jobs are saved to buy books, notebooks, pens and other gifts to help poor children go to school.

“The gifts and small scholarships act as a source of motivation to urge children to go to school. I always think of new ways to source further help from sponsors for needy children,” said Huong, who is secretary of the Communist Youth Union of Ward 24 in Binh Thanh District in Ho Chi Minh City.

On festivals, Huong and her ‘associates’ sell flowers along the streets and in schools with a logo “Raising funds for connecting love” written on banners to call upon more help.

Her group raises VND1-2 million (US$48-96) on average per festival.

To have more staff for the charitable job, Huong persuaded young people who have left rehabilitation and detoxification centers to join with her as volunteers to spread love and help to children.

From the fund, she has helped two such volunteers to get loans for running beverage shops.

At other times, Huong would ask volunteers to collect scraps for sale or do the clean-ups at restaurants to have money for the fund.

Thanks to her group of volunteers, the Ba Lang Canal running through the locality has become cleaner with less waste thrown into it.

“It’s my way of emulating the example of Uncle Ho in life. I have to do it and then I will get support from others in doing it,” Huong talked about her outlook on life.