Staple food delivery service provides jobs for people with disabilities

A staple food delivery service employee with disabilities explains payment procedures at a pick-up location in Beijing’s Military Band community on Feb. 28, 2020. Some of the neighborhood’s staff and volunteers also work at the site. [Photo courtesy of Beijing Disabled Persons’ Federation]

The sudden COVID-19 outbreak has caused a variety of complications in people’s everyday lives. The Beijing Disabled Persons’ Federation and Beijing-based Chinese State-owned agriculture conglomerate Beijing Capital Agribusiness Group’s Shouxianyumin Company recently launched a staple food delivery service pilot project in order to provide more opportunities for people with disabilities, whom the subsidiary hires to staff the consumer-facing aspects of the system, and offer greater convenience for the city’s consumers.

The undertaking makes it possible for the Beijing residents with disabilities who become employed by the Beijing Capital Agribusiness Group division to earn a living near their homes and serve the communities that they live in.

Staff members with disabilities manage staple food delivery subscriptions that customers sign up for in special WeChat groups and collect payments at pick-up locations that Shouxianyumin drops the products that people order off at in Beijing’s residential communities twice a week.

A detailed order form [Photo courtesy of Beijing Disabled Persons’ Federation] 

Haidian District’s Military Band community was the first residential area to participate in the project. Some of its staff and volunteers also work at its pick-up location.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people live and work, but it cannot deter those with disabilities from working towards better lives or dampen their enthusiasm to participate in society,” noted Ren Jixin, head of the Military Band community committee.

Rice and vegetables wait to be claimed at the Military Band community’s staple food delivery pick-up location.[Photo courtesy of Beijing Disabled Persons’ Federation]

Shouxianyumin’s staple food delivery system covers eight communities and has more than 2,000 subscribers as of March 25. The company plans to promote the service in more ofBeijing’s neighborhoods and will continue offering it after the COVID-19 outbreak ends.