Vietnamese restaurant owner serves free meals to sanitation workers after storm cleanup

Two days after the storm made landfall, traffic resumed in much of Vinh, north-central Nghe An Province, as hundreds of workers cleared fallen trees and garbage from roads and alleys. 

While large amounts of waste remained uncollected, their efforts significantly eased the cleanup burden on local wards.

At midday, the exhausted workers received unexpected news from their supervisors: "We're going out for lunch at a restaurant today."

Many were surprised. 

"We usually just grab cheap takeaway," one worker said. 

But this time, they were invited to a wedding banquet hall on Mai Hac De Street, where they sat down for a hot meal prepared and served by the family of restaurant owners Le Van Hong, 67, and Nguyen Thi Minh.

The meal, though modest compared to a formal banquet, included braised eel with banana and tofu, shredded chicken salad, stewed fish, and sour soup — enough to lift their mood and spark lively conversation.

Laughter echoed through the hall as workers chatted about the streets they had helped clear, replacing fatigue with camaraderie.

"Our wedding hall suffered almost no damage because we secured it well before the storm," said Hong. 

"But across the city, trees were down everywhere, and the workload for sanitation crews was enormous. 

"This is our way of helping the community recover."

Despite unstable food prices after the storm, the couple decided to provide free lunches over three days — from Wednesday to Friday — for the sanitation teams.

Photos of the workers enjoying their meal quickly spread on social media, drawing praise from the public.

"A timely and meaningful gesture," one user, Mai Sao, commented. 

"Not only did it support those clearing roads and fallen trees, but it helped the whole society recover faster."

"A beautiful and heartfelt act of kindness," said Quynh Hoa.

"Meteorological disasters may sweep away belongings," wrote Dung Nguyen, "but they can't take away compassion or the solidarity of the Vietnamese people."