HUNDREDS of Shenzhen residents braved the rain over the weekend to go to an orchard in Bao’an District to buy litchis from a family hoping to raise enough funds for the treatment of their twin daughters suffering thalassemia, local media reported.

The father, Li Zhenyuan, said the 6-year-old twins are waiting to undergo transplant surgeries on bone marrow from Taiwanese donors at Shenzhen Children’s Hospital, which, if everything goes well, will happen in September. But the family could not afford the hefty cost of more than 600,000 yuan (US$95,000).

The family’s plight deepens as 50,000 kilograms of litchis grown out of 3,000 litchi trees in the orchard they planted at the foot of Fenghuang Mountain saw poor sales this year, a bumper year of litchi harvest that results in excessive supply.

Their story was widely heard after volunteers posted messages in their WeChat groups Thursday, seeking help from the public.

“The family is shouldering a huge burden as they have nearly spent all of their savings treating the two girls,” said Lian Meirong, a volunteer from Xin’an Volunteer Federation.

The posts caught local media’s attention, which helped to further spread the family’s story. It turned out that over 100 residents traveled from many places of Shenzhen to buy Li’s litchis Saturday, despite the heavy rain that day.

Within one day, Li had sold out around 2,000 kilograms of litchis at the orchard and received online orders of more than 20,000 kilograms. Li said that his phone did not stop ringing from Sunday morning. Many people living outside of Guangdong Province also called him to make orders.

“They asked how my kids are and how to buy my litchis,” said Li. The father was deeply touched by so many buyers’ help.

A Shenzhen resident surnamed Fan went to the orchard Saturday all the way from Yantian District. After reading the online posts, Fan shared the message in a WeChat group of property owners at his housing estate.

The property owners took actions Friday night and together ordered 1,000 kilograms of litchis. Fan was representing all of the buyers from the group and planned to visit the family and the volunteers helping out at the orchard the next day.

A lot of volunteers from Bao’an District also went to the orchard to help pick and pack litchis despite the thunderstorm Saturday.

“Our team leader shared the message in our group the night before and more than 10 volunteers came today to help out,” said Cai Fangmei, a 62-year-old volunteer from a team in Bao’an.

Since it was raining heavily and the road to the orchard was muddy, getting the packed litchi delivery became a job for the volunteers. A fleet of more than 30 vehicles also came to help Saturday to deliver litchis down the muddy mountain roads.

Some buyers even attempted to make donations for the twin girls, but Li simply wrote down the contact information of these buyers and said if the income from the litchis is enough for the surgeries, he will not accept any donations.

The volunteers are calling for more help for the family. The address of the orchard is 190, Huangmabu Road (深圳市宝安区黄麻布路190号), Bao’an District and Li’s contact number is 136-9228-8827.

(Zhang Qian)