Zhang Qian

    zhqcindy@163.com

    WITH funds and aid materials from the civil affairs bureau, social workers from the city’s rescue centers went to the street Friday to distribute rice, cooking oil and other goods, so the homeless can celebrate the Spring Festival.

    “The busiest time for the rescue centers each year is around the Spring Festival,” said Fu Tianyue, head of the municipal rescue center. This is because the centers keep receiving homeless people during the cold season including some migrant workers who rarely can afford a ticket home.

    To get those people home, the rescue centers will purchase coach tickets for them, and for those whose homes are within 500 km of Shenzhen, the rescue centers will dispatch cars to escort them home, said Fu.

    Also, some warm-hearted residents offer free rides to people who need help going home for the Spring Festival.

    Fu said that helping people go home is one of their routine jobs throughout the year. The city’s rescue centers had, in total, escorted 391 people home by the end of 2016.

    Liu Xinyong was one of those who finally got to reunite with his family after 14 years.

    Liu could not remember his home address in Shandong Pro-vince as he suffers from mental diseases. Liu has been living as a vagrant. In February 2016, social workers from a rescue center eventually tracked down his home address for him.

    Statistics provided by the rescue centers showed that among the 19,300 people who had received aid, 630 of them stayed in the centers for a long time. Fu said that in August, the municipal rescue center started a project to help these people return home.