[Tuchong]

HAIKOU, March 5 (Xinhua) — Fifty-nine-year-old Liu Shaomin and her husband visit southern China's resort island Hainan routinely every year for a warmer winter. This winter, however, the couple had to go through a 14-day self-quarantine at a designated hospital after arrival since they drove from Hubei, the central province hit hard by COVID-19.

Benefiting from volunteers who hand out free groceries at the door has become a daily routine for the couple since they returned. "They make us feel at home and talk to us on phone every day to check our health conditions and ask for our needs," said Liu.

A total of 274 volunteers have taken on the responsibility for meeting the needs of quarantined households like the retired couple who returned from Hubei and other virus-hit regions in the provincial capital city Haikou, said Ou Yangzi with the Haikou Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League.

Xia Yike, a volunteer from Hubei, is in charge of three households from her hometown. Xia said she never considers their needs as trivial matters since they may be under a lot of stress right now during the epidemic.Ou said that those who originally come from Hubei are the majority among the volunteers.

She bought toys for kids who got tired of staying indoors for weeks and delivered constipation medicine for a young lady who was too shy to ask for help.

Xia hopes their efforts can help boost people's confidence in overcoming the difficulties during the anti-epidemic battle.

Every year, Chinese people celebrate the Lei Feng Day on March 5 to honor cultural icon Lei Feng, a soldier who led a life of virtue but died young in the 1960s. He called for selflessness, modesty and devotion in society.

Since the virus outbreak, thousands of volunteers from all walks of life in China have extended a helping hand to those in need.

A total of 85,000 volunteers across the country have joined the battle against COVID-19 to serve as deliverymen, psychological counselors and community workers, according to the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League.

Volunteers in rural areas came up with earthy and innovative ideas to make information on epidemic prevention and control more accessible to villagers, especially the elderly.

Zheng Xingjie, the founder of a grassroots volunteer group based in the outskirts of Haikou, said they patrol across villages using nine loudspeakers to broadcast knowledge on epidemic prevention in both Mandarin and local dialects.

Volunteering is a supplementary effort to help more individuals in society and those who received help also become ready to help others in need, said Zheng.

 (Source: Xinhua)