The charity kitchen

江苏 潘宇华

At noon every day,an open⁃air kitchen in an alleyway in Nanchang,East China's Jiangxi Province, is always crowded with people.The fires have long been prepared in dozens of little stoves.

The people gathering here are the relatives of patients at a nearby cancer hospital.Many feel helpless in the face of their loved ones' health struggles, but they can at least cook them some familiar, comforting food in the open⁃air kitchen, which is much cheaper than restaurant takeaways.

Wan Zuocheng and Xiong Gengxiang, a couple in their 60s, started the charity kitchen back early in 2003 following an encounter with the relatives of a patient.The couple had been running a breakfast stall by the hospital.One morning, a family stopped at the stall and begged to use the stove to cook something for their cancer⁃stricken child.Wan and Xiong readily agreed,and soon realized how meaning⁃ful something as ordinary as a cooking stove could be to the family of a patient.

Nineteen years into their endeavor（努力）,the couple has been nominated as national ethical role models for their acts of helping others, along with those nominated for bravery,honesty, dedication and filial piety (孝心).Indeed, the unselfish efforts of Wan and Xiong are an important reminder of this great national tradition.

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Who are the people coming to the charity kitchen?