Representatives of Dantri Newspaper in the Mekong Delta and officials from Nhon My Commune held a ceremony on February 26 to hand over the house to Ly Thi Da, 52, in An Nghiep Hamlet.
A Dantri reporter and Truong Thanh Giang, Vice Chairman of Nhon My Commune People's Committee (in blue shirt), present the symbolic plaque for Da's house inauguration on February 26 (Photo: Nguyen Minh).
Da, who has gone through two broken marriages, has been raising four children on her own. She had been living with her youngest daughter, 10-year-old Danh Ly Hong Dao, in a severely dilapidated house.
Previously a manual worker in Binh Duong, Da was forced to return to her hometown in Can Tho after developing a spinal condition that left her unable to perform heavy labour. Since then, she has relied on unstable seasonal jobs that barely covered daily expenses.
After Dantri published an article about the family’s plight, readers contributed funds to help them build a new home. Construction began two months ago with coordination between the newspaper and local authorities.
The 80-square-metre house includes one living room and three bedrooms, with total costs of more than VND 300 million (about USD 12,200). Nearly VND 200 million (about USD 8,100) came from reader donations and funds mobilised by Nhon My Commune authorities, while Da’s children contributed the remainder.
Speaking at the ceremony, Truong Thanh Giang, vice-chairman of Nhon My Commune People’s Committee, expressed gratitude for the support from Dantri readers.
“On behalf of the locality, I sincerely appreciate the generous support from Dantri readers for Da’s family as well as previous cases where the newspaper has called for help with housing and medical costs. We hope Dantri’s humanitarian programme will continue to spread compassion to many more disadvantaged lives,” he said.
Da, visibly emotional, said her family was overjoyed that the house was completed during the 2026 Lunar New Year holiday period.
“After so many years in a leaking, rundown house, my daughter and I now have a new home. It feels like a dream,” she said through tears.
In response to the government’s campaign to eliminate temporary and dilapidated housing, Dantri has set a target of building 200 charity houses nationwide in 2024-2025 for poor and near-poor households.
Since April 2024, the newspaper has started construction on 253 charity houses, of which 218 have been completed.
Beyond housing support, Dantri has also built 58 classrooms, 32 rural bridges and roads, and 50 floating homes for flood-prone areas; organised 28 free medical check-up programmes for more than 6,000 people; provided 7,210 health insurance cards to disadvantaged students; and launched nearly 6,000 fundraising appeals for families facing extreme hardship.