Residents provide free services and food to neighbors in Ho Chi Minh City

Several residents in Ho Chi Minh City, a major economic center in Vietnam, provide free food, haircuts, and vehicle repairs to people in need.

Phạm Quang Huy, the owner of To Coffee on Trần Quốc Thảo Street, maintains a small cabinet containing free bread for the community. The cabinet displays a sign inviting people to take one loaf each.

Within about one hour of the morning, the 100 loaves of bread Huy provides typically run out as locals, including elderly people and young adults, stop to collect them. Huy continues to replace the cabinet even after it was damaged by wind or theft in the past. In the Hạnh Thông ward, Khổng Văn Tùng and 10 other workers have operated a free haircut station under the Nguyễn Thái Sơn overpass for five years.

The station operates from 10:00 to 15:00 daily and serves approximately 40 people, mostly elderly residents, who visit for a haircut and conversation.

Tùng says he views the sincere thanks from regular customers as his most valuable reward. Đỗ Văn Út, a 63-year-old man on Phan Đình Phùng Street, has spent over 30 years repairing vehicles for people with disabilities for free. Út began this practice after noticing that the small fee for a repair was equivalent to the earnings from 10 lottery tickets. Since 2012, Út has also maintained a first-aid medicine cabinet and connects struggling families with free funeral services.

Despite facing some local gossip regarding his motives, Út says he will continue his work as long as he has the strength and ability to help others.