Minh Sơn Pagoda, Chợ Gạo, Tiền Giang: 200 Gift Packages, Spring 2025

On March 16, 2025, the Compassionate Hands team gave 200 gift packages, wheelchairs and cash offerings at Minh Sơn Pagoda in Tiền Giang; two lottery sellers shared their daily lives.

On March 16, 2025, the Compassionate Hands Foundation (Hội Từ Thiện Bàn Tay Nhân Ái) gave gifts at Minh Sơn Pagoda in Chợ Gạo district, Tiền Giang province. There were 200 gift packages that day, wheelchairs for people with disabilities, and tịnh tài (cash offerings) from the Buddhists traveling with the team, given to the families in the hardest circumstances.

The road to Chợ Gạo

After the distribution at Huỳnh Quang Pagoda in An Giang, the group rested for a night and set out for Tiền Giang. The trip was over 100 km and took more than two hours, past quiet rivers, small bridges, coconut palms and wide fields of young rice. The video's narrator writes of buffalo grazing and egrets flying, and of a feeling of belonging, as if the team had become part of the countryside.

At Minh Sơn Pagoda the team was glad to find that villagers already had a shelter from the sun while they waited. As usual, they took part in the pagoda's welcome ceremony and then arranged the boxes. Each member had a task: greeting villagers, listening to their stories, handing out water and bread so people were less tired while waiting for their turn.

Five kilos of rice is not a month's worth

A representative of the team told the villagers that for more than 15 years the foundation has sponsored 10 kg of rice a month. After the pandemic its funds fell short and the amount dropped to 5 kg. The speaker said the team knows 5 kg is not enough.

Often that 5 kg is shared with others in the family. Sometimes it is gone in 5 days, or maybe 10 days.

A team representative

More than 70 Buddhists traveled with the team. The representative asked those who had seen these families with their own eyes to try a little harder, and to tell relatives and friends so more people will decide to give. The speaker hopes that within five years, or at most two, the foundation can bring back the 10 kg of rice.

Families not on monthly support still received one-time gifts. Students who once received scholarships now get gifts only, because funds are short. People with disabilities who had no wheelchair were given one, along with the same package as everyone else. There were 200 gift packages that day, and the Buddhists who traveled with the team gave tịnh tài on top of that.

Two lottery ticket sellers

During the distribution, team members talked with some of the recipients. One person lives alone, their mother has died, and sells lottery tickets each day to get by. This person said capital often runs out because customers buy on credit and do not pay. A team member gave some money so the seller would have capital for tickets, and asked that it not be used to bet on numbers.

Another recipient, an elderly woman, sells tickets from a wheelchair and had come a long way to the distribution point. She said she used to sell over a hundred tickets a day, and now sells about 50, earning 50,000 đồng. At times she has also lost her capital to being cheated. A team member, on the occasion of the 2025 trip across Vietnam, gave her some money for capital and wished her good health. Asked whether she recites the Buddha's name each day, she said yes.

What stays

The narrator watched the younger members carry elderly people, support the weak and lift wheelchairs down the steps, and wrote that even a small act, if it comes from a sincere heart, can bring comfort to someone less fortunate.

Each gift is not only rice, noodles and basic goods. It is also comfort, a little warmth in hard days.

The team's narration

The narrator also observed that many elderly people still struggle to earn a living, and many sick people live in leaning houses without money for treatment. What they hope for is that sharing spreads, so that no one is left alone or without hope. The team continued its journey.