Gangdong-myeon, Gangjin-gun, Volunteer Service Sharing Healthy Meals with Elderly Living Alone Receives Great Response

Side Dish Sharing Volunteer Group Provides Side Dishes... Voluntary Participation of Residents

Gangdong-myeon care workers in Gangjin-gun are promoting the "Healthy Meal Sharing Project for Elderly Living Alone." (Photo by Gangjin-gun)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-su] Gangjin-gun, Jeollanam-do announced on the 20th that the Gundong-myeon Community Security Council (co-chairs Kim Eun-joo and Kang Chun-hyuk) is promoting the ‘Healthy Meal Sharing Project for Elderly Living Alone,’ which provides side dishes cooked at home once a week to about 20 elderly people living alone.

Since last year, the ‘Healthy Meal Sharing Project for Elderly Living Alone’ has operated by having the side dish volunteer group prepare side dishes at home and donate them to the customized welfare team at the myeon office. The myeon office then places the dishes in distribution containers and stores the preserved food for a week to ensure the safety of the elderly.

Life support workers at the Senior Customized Care Center select 3 to 4 types of side dishes considering the health condition of the elderly and deliver them to the target elderly individuals.

This project is operated with designated donations from the Gundong-myeon Community Security Council’s ‘Filling the Sharing Pantry’ fund and is positively evaluated as a public-private cooperation project steadily run through the voluntary participation of volunteers.

Volunteer Jeong Jeong-sook (head of Seokgyo Village) said, “While preparing side dishes for my family, I make a little extra and provide side dishes every Wednesday. I enjoy the process of making and delivering them.” She added, “It has already been a year since I started volunteering, and I feel very proud. I will continue to volunteer for elderly people living alone.”

Gundong-myeon Chief Kang Chun-hyuk said, “This project operates weekly without material cost support, so without the voluntary participation of volunteers and the division of tasks between the public and private sectors, it would be difficult to sustain.” He added, “We will continue to promote sharing projects through discovering and cooperating with local welfare resources.”

Meanwhile, the Gundong-myeon Community Security Council is continuously recruiting side dish volunteer groups and food ingredient volunteer groups to sustain the meal sharing project.