The Village Transformed After 'CleanSon' Visit... Cleaning Volunteer Service for Welfare Plan in Yongsang-dong, Andong, Gyeongbuk

Residents participating in the Clean Hands campaign.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Gwiyeol] Do you know the ‘Clean Hands’ that quickly transform a village?

On the 21st, the Yongsang-dong Village Welfare Plan Promotion Team in Andong-si, Gyeongbuk, launched the second ‘Our Neighborhood Clean Hands’ activity.

‘Our Neighborhood Clean Hands’ is a Yongsang-dong Village Welfare Plan lifestyle agenda project where village residents participate voluntarily in environmental cleanup activities to create a clean and pleasant neighborhood.

After a pilot operation in the second half of last year, the activity resumed in April following the full lifting of COVID-19 social distancing measures.

Early that morning, about 20 people including promotion team members, Andong Yongsang Red Cross Volunteer Society members, and Yongsang-dong staff wore yellow Clean Hands vests and roamed around nearby roads of the Administrative Welfare Center, Yongsang Market area, and Yongsang-dong Bokgaecheon public parking lot, holding trash bags and tongs in both hands.

The promotion team members then immediately moved to the Andong Red Cross Sharing Center and started baking soft and sweet castella cakes from 9 a.m., mixing flour and sugar into foamed eggs.

The 300 cakes, made with time and warmth, were delivered as special snacks to the village senior centers and Matteul Sarang Pantry. The faces of the members who spent their entire Saturday morning volunteering and sharing were full of smiles.

Lee Seok-won, the promotion team leader, said, “It was more energizing because the Clean Hands team and the Hopeful (饌) team worked together. I think the village will change when everyone moves more together without team distinctions whenever time and circumstances allow.”