As of this morning, a sending-off ceremony for taking poor students and needy workers home to celebrate the Lunar New Year of Dragon 2024 was held at the HCMC Youth Cultural House, with the presence of Standing Deputy Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee's Mass Mobilization Committee Nguyen Thi Bach Mai, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in Ho Chi Minh City Pham Minh Tuan along with thousands of students and workers.
The “Spring Bus” program is a part of activities caring for students with difficult circumstances who are studying at schools in Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of the approaching Tet holiday.
Accordingly, the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union, the HCMC Student Association, the Ho Chi Minh City Student Assistance Center and Thanh Nien (Youth) Newspaper coordinated with companies Acecook, Lifebuoy and other units to implement the program.
The “Spring Bus” program will take 2,200 students and employees with difficult circumstances back to their homes in the Central and Central Highlands localities.
Speaking at the sending-off ceremony, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union and President of the Vietnamese Student Association in Ho Chi Minh City Tran Thu Ha said that the program has realized the desire getting together with family members during the Tet holiday for everyone, especially for those people living far from home to study and work.
The organizers grasped the desire and hoped that through the program, students and workers would see concerns and human values of sharing, love and compassion from the community.
This morning, Hoang Thi Nga, a 40-year-old female worker of Freetrend Vietnam Company Limited along with her husband and a six-year-old son arrived very early at the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Cultural House, eager for the journey back home in the North-Central province of Nghe An to enjoy Tet after six years living far from home.
She is very touched sharing the story that her husband got into a traffic accident after his work hour a few years ago so his health is not as good as before. Last year, the family's income decreased due to the impact of economic downturn. The difficult life and low income have made her unaffordable for tickets to return home for the last six years. This is the first time that her son will celebrate Tet with his grandparents.
Nga is among 2,200 students and disadvantaged workers who received free bus tickets to return home to celebrate Tet.
In a similar case, Doan Thi My, an over-60-year-old woman from the Central province of Binh Dinh, who is living at a rental house in Thu Duc City, was very touched by receiving a free bus ticket and Tet gifts from the organizing board and benefactors through the meaningful program.
Vo Viet Tho, a disadvantaged student from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT) under the National University of Ho Chi Minh City shared that this is the second time he luckily received a free bus ticket from the program to return to his home in the Central province of Quang Tri.
Tho has a difficult circumstance as his family’s farming crop this year is unfavorable. Therefore, he has to work part-time to earn money to cover daily expenses for studying and living.
Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Student Assistance Center Le Nguyen Nam said that the free bus and train tickets for students and workers under the program sent a message of love and sharing to remind young generations about the value of health and spread the traditional cultural value of family reunions during Tet.
The “Spring Bus” program was initiated by the Ho Chi Minh City Student Assistance Center in 2002 and it now becomes an annual event.
The program has supported 61,125 disadvantaged students to return home to enjoy Tet so far.
