Braised pork, stir-fried cabbage, pumpkin soup, ......At 11 o'clock at noon on December 29, the love canteen on Qingluan Road, Baoluan Town, Fengdu County, was filled with steaming meals. At the window, the old people lined up with meal tickets.
Eating a hot meal, the empty nesters are very happy. Photo by reporter Peng Yu Visual Chongqing.
Spend 3 yuan to eat enough. Yang Gaoming, the old man of Wubao, chose a portion of steamed pork and fried konjac, and sat at the table and ate it beautifully. He told a reporter in Chongqing, "Rice and soup are free to eat, and if they are not enough, they can be added." ”
Tan Mingquan, Secretary of the Party Committee of Baoluan Town, introduced that the town provides free stores for love canteens, free installation of water and electricity for caring enterprises, and active service of party members and volunteers, mainly to solve the problem of difficulty in eating for the elderly over 60 years old, left-behind children, and disabled and difficult groups.
A survey report: the elderly in rural areas "have difficulty eating".
Yang Gaoming is 77 years old this year, and because of his strong body, he chose to care for the elderly at home. But it is very troublesome to cook alone, and the elderly often cook a few meals at a time, and they rarely have the heart to cook something delicious.
There are still many elderly people who have difficulty eating. Xu Wen, a member of the Party Committee of Baoluan Town, said that in the theme education, Baoluan Town conducted a survey on the eating problems of 2,154 elderly people living in and around the town. The results showed that there were 645% of the elderly "eat one meal a day." 4% of the elderly "eat two meals a day";There are 10% of the elderly who "cook three meals at one time" and "cook two meals at a time". A meeting in the town concluded that "the main reason is that old age and mobility are inconvenient, and the habit of eating lightly, and the absence of children." ”
The caring people on the field also came to the love canteen to eat. Photo by reporter Peng Yu Visual Chongqing.
Du Jinwen's wife, 78, died in Huadipu Village, and his two daughters went out to work. The old man told reporters that a person not only cooks rice and stir-fries, but also has to match meat and vegetables, which is time-consuming and laborious, and it is not cost-effective.
The old people have the idea that it is not difficult to eat, and we have to think of it to solve it and be satisfied. Tan Mingquan said frankly that if the first is to take care of the eating problems of all the elderly, one is that there is no special fund, and the other is that there is no manpower to deliver meals to the elderly with limited mobility, "under the condition of limited financial, material and human resources, it is not conducive to the long-term operation of the canteen." ”
How to solve the problem of difficulty in eating for the elderly, the Party Committee of Baoluan Town has conducted many investigations, and finally had the idea of building a love canteen.
A bold exploration: let the elderly eat a hot meal.
Just when the love canteen was brewing in the town, 71-year-old veteran party member Long Houfu took the initiative to ask Ying to participate in the management of the canteen. This made the town party committee firm its confidence, and decided to use the idle 200 square meters of the office building as a canteen kitchen and dining room.
Long Houfu (first from left) and Tan Chunhua are reconciling. Photo by reporter Peng Yu Visual Chongqing.
The rent was saved by 10,000 yuan, and the caring enterprise was also exempted from water bills of several hundred yuan a year. Long Houfu joined the army when he was young, went home to do business, set up a factory, and served as the president of the Baoluan Town Senior Sports Association when he was old, and he was particularly concerned about serving the elderly. He suggested that the first support is in place, and the rest of the funding problems are still solved by market-oriented operation.
Long Houfu and the town agreed that the love canteen mainly serves the elderly over 60 years old, left-behind children, the disabled and other special groups in the jurisdiction, and provides breakfast, lunch and dinner services every day, with each vegetarian dish and meat dish ** 1 yuan and 2 yuan respectively, and rice and soup dishes are free.
In September this year, the Baoluan Town Love Canteen on Qingluan Road was soon operational. Driven by Long Houfu, 81-year-old Tan Chunhua also joined the Love Canteen and took on financial work for free. In addition, 58-year-old Yangmei is responsible for cooking rice and stir-frying, and Fu Shulan is responsible for washing vegetables and dishes. In order to keep the canteen running, Yang Mei and Fu Shulan can receive a meager remuneration of more than 1,000 yuan per month.
Every morning at 6 o'clock, Long Houfu was the first to rush to the love canteen to open the door, and led Tan Chunhua, Yang Mei, and Fu Shulan to organize three meals for the elderly, and did not go home until more than 7 o'clock in the evening.
With hot meals, special groups such as empty nesters, left-behind children, and the disabled come to eat on time every day, with at least 80 people and more than 120 people on the day of the rush.
A surge of love: the masses are happy to eat "** rice".
Despite trying to save, I lost nearly 1,200 yuan in the first month. "According to Long Houfu's analysis, the main reason is that the expenditure on natural gas and vegetables is large. After that, he bought vegetables directly from farmers and brought his own firewood to reduce the amount of natural gas he used. The old people are considerate and say that the burden is not light, and the love canteen still has to open up its own sources and reduce expenditure.
Long Houfu is delivering meals to workers on the construction site. Photo by reporter Peng Yu Visual Chongqing.
When buying vegetables once, farmers asked if they could directly exchange vegetables for meals, and Long Houfu launched two meal exchange services after thinking twice, one is the exchange of materials, farmers use rice, potatoes, winter melon, cabbage, and even bacon, firewood and other value of meat vegetables, vegetarian vegetables, rice, etc., to directly reduce fuel and vegetable expenses;The second is labor exchange, where villagers come to the canteen to help with cleaning, washing dishes, cooking and cooking, and delivering meals to people with reduced mobility, all of which can be exchanged for different shares of meals, which reduces the work intensity of the service staff of the canteen.
*Eating is not eating!"I heard that the Love Canteen lost money in the first month, and the workers who worked at the construction sites around the town proposed that they hope that the Love Canteen can also be opened to them, and the profits earned can be used to maintain the operation of the Love Canteen like other restaurants. Everyone said that it doesn't matter if it's a little higher than the old man's meal.
The love canteen then launched to the social group**, 2 yuan per vegetarian dish, 4 yuan for meat dishes, 1 yuan for rice, and free soup dishes, which is slightly lower than other restaurants and slightly higher than the love meals of the elderly. Long Houfu said that it is not easy for workers to make money, and they can keep running with a little profit.
The love canteen conforms to public opinion and gathers love. Qin Xiaoling, the mayor of Baoluan Town, said that now there are more and more people who eat in the love canteen, and many town and village cadres, passing drivers, and business vendors also come here to eat, and they do not pay according to ** when they leave, leaving 10 yuan, 20 yuan, 50 yuan, and 100 yuan to express their support for the love canteen.