Free porridge dished out daily for sanitation workers

Sanitation workers in Nanyang can wake up each morning safe in the knowledge they have a healthy, hearty breakfast to look forward to – and what's more, it's free.

Breakfast stations offering free servings of hot porridge each day were first established in the city in 2013, numbering 14.

Each day at 4:00 am, Xu Lingli, the head of a porridge station on Yishengsi Street, and a team of volunteers wake up to prepare breakfast for area's sanitation workers.

The porridge station on Zhangheng East Road was set up in June 2016 by retiree Li Rongjuan, who has thrown herself into the noble cause of making sure some of the city's forgotten workers have a good start to the day.

Li says the reason behind her setting up her own porridge station is simple. "There were porridge stations in the west wing and central Nanyang at that time," Li says. "And it hurt to watch sanitation workers swallow cold steamed buns with water so early in morning."

Upon opening the city's first porridge station, Shi Yingchao was struck by how much support he received from his neighbors and the local community. "With the stations gradually branching out in the city, I received bags of rice, packages of noodles and barrels oil," Shi says.

A sanitation worker surnamed Zhou is very grateful for the porridge stations. "It is like a big family here," he says. "Everyone seems to be infected with the atmosphere."

Nanyang's porridge stations not only provide a hot meal for sanitation workers, but also for the elderly, left behind children and people with disabilities.