Power company serves 36 years of volunteer filial duties

"I can air out the quilt under the sun!" "I will go check the wires!" "Xu, how have you been?"

In an ordinary morning in Dawu County, Xiaogan City, Central China's Hubei province, a lively atmosphere pervades at the home of a lonely aged man, Xu Qingde.

"No bother, you just checked the wires last week, but it will be great if you would like to sit under the sun with me," Xu said. On Sunday, as a group of "children" came home, Xu felt extremely happy. "You are so nice that it makes me feel the warmth of home," Xu said.

The "children" are members of a filial duty volunteer service team sent by State Grid Xiaogan Power Supply Company.

A few years ago, these volunteers learned that Xu had difficulties living alone when they came to read his meter. Since then, the team has become like his family. Whenever Xu meets with difficulties in daily life, he will receive warm help to deal with them.

"My memory is not good as I become older, and the names of others sometimes confuse me, but I can remember the team members clearly," Xu said. While speaking, Xu picked up his mobile phone and said he hoped that Sheng Li, a member of the team, would help him save contact information on his phone.

After understanding the elder's request, Sheng began to teach him to use the phone.

The State Grid Xiaogan Power Supply Company set up its volunteer service team 36 years ago. The team has been working with seniors and has donated 280,000 yuan for their electricity bills and 230,000 yuan to support them.

Zhang Yunsheng, 58, was one of the first members of the volunteer service team.

"Sometimes I find the figures on their electricity meters in many elderly people's homes are small, because the bulbs are not working, or the wires were bitten by rats. As no one came to repair the damage, the elders had to stop using them.

Later, when they encounter this kind of circumstance, the team members help fix the wires and change bulbs voluntarily. They even use their own money to pay electricity bills for the seniors.

"No matter rich or poor, they deserve bright nights," Zhang said.

From personal behavior to the filial duties of a group of people, a "filial duty contact map" with detailed addresses, birth dates and physical conditions of more than 100 lonely seniors in the local area has been maintained and passed on for 36 years.

Nowadays, both the service team and the scope of service are getting larger, as the team has extended volunteer services from the elderly to welfare homes and left-behind children.