A volunteer in protective clothes helps a woman to take vegetables in the mobile supermarket in Đà Nẵng City’s Thanh Khê District last weekend.— Photo nhandan.com.vn

ĐÀ NẴNG — Nguyễn Thị Thôm, 52, of Chính Gián Ward, Đà Nẵng City’s Thanh Khê District, got milk, vegetables, eggs, hand sanitiser and a mask for free at a mobile supermarket last weekend.

Thôm, whose husband is on dialysis, lost her job as a domestic helper due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I feel very thankful because of the model of the supermarket," she said.

“I have lost my job for several months. Life becomes harder because I am the breadwinner in my family,” she added.

Not only Thôm but also hundreds of other struggling people benefited from the mobile supermarket last weekend, Nhân Dân (People) online newspaper reported.

Cao Thị Mỹ Trang, 42, of Xuân Hà Ward, who received two full bags of food and essentials from the mobile supermarket, said the model helped share difficulties with the poor during the pandemic.

“Thanks to the free food, my family will not worry about how to have enough food for this week,” she said.

Trang, a lottery ticket seller, said she had to work very hard to bring up her two children. However, after the pandemic hit the city, she lost her job.

The single mother did not know what to do to earn money to raise her children, she said.

The mobile supermarket opened in Huỳnh Thúc Kháng Secondary School, at No 154 Hà Huy Tập Street, last weekend to give the bare essentials to local poor and disadvantaged people suffering from the pandemic.

The supermarket provided items like vermicelli, noodles, rice, milk, vegetables, eggs, milk, hand sanitiser and masks.

Trương Thị Như Hoa, 50, head of Đà Nẵng Social Working Group, which runs the mobile supermarket, said it was the first time the group launched the mobile supermarket in the city.

The group planned to alternately open the supermarket in seven districts of the city every weekend, she said.

“Although it is just a little bit, we want to share the burden with the poor during the pandemic,” she added.

Hoa said food and other essentials were donated by local businesses and kind-hearted people.

It costs about VNĐ70 million (US$3,000) to run the mobile supermarket each weekend, she said.

Before the supermarket opened, the group conducted a survey and gave 200 free shopping vouchers of the supermarket to the poor and disadvantaged people in the district.

Each voucher was worth VNĐ300,000 – 350,000 ($13-15).

Hoa also said to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, each person was told to wash their hands correctly with hand sanitiser, check their temperature with a thermometer and wear rubber gloves in the supermarket.

Only two people were allowed to go shopping at the same time.

Phan Nhật Nam, an employee of a local security system company had donated a mask ATM for the supermarket, Hoa said.

People just had to look at the camera in front of the mask ATM to confirm their face and press the button to get 10 free masks, she said.

There are 10 volunteers running the mobile supermarket with Hoa.

Another mobile supermarket will be operated in Hải Châu District this weekend, Hoa said.

“We do it because we want every poor person of the city to receive necessary help from kind-hearted people,” she said. — VNS