Lu Songfang lives a very frugal life, yet he often generously donates to the people. Our newspaper's archival photo.
According to our news report, on the first day of the New Year, it was Lu Songfang's 81st birthday, the "coal seller" from Deqing who has been frequently covered by our newspaper. As always, he was hunched over, pulling his coal cake cart through the streets and alleys.
Since the age of 58, Lu Songfang's coal delivery cart has never stopped. He is an ordinary villager from Hou'ao Village, Xinshi Town, Deqing County. During the Sichuan Wenchuan earthquake, he donated 11,000 yuan, equivalent to the money he earned by selling coal cakes without eating or drinking for two consecutive years, which caused a huge social response. The elderly man was successively named as one of the Most Genuine Figures of 2008, a Candidate for "Touching China" in 2008, one of the "Ten Task Citizens" for "Duty China", and the "Zhejiang Pride Annual Tribute Figure" in 2008.
The neighbors said that the elder usually saves on food and even hesitates to buy vegetables, but when it comes to donating for snow disasters, disaster areas, or bridge and road repairs, he is never stingy. Last year, he also donated 3,000 yuan to Yushu.
In the first half of last year, he used the 15,000 yuan from two awards that the community collected on his behalf to establish the "Songfang Gratitude Award". In the first round of awards, it was given to six enthusiastic individuals in society, including Zhou Lianhai, a disabled volunteer from the "Spring Lily".
Our newspaper correspondent Li Jianmin, our reporter Xiang Jianguo.