[Seoul District News] Gwanak-gu Staff Visit Senior Centers, Welfare Facilities, Single-Parent Families, and Elderly Living Alone to Share Warmth & Park Junhee, District Mayor, Joins Happy Mamabong Volunteer Group in ‘Love Jeon Cooking’ Volunteer Activity ... Seongdong-gu Installs Donation Food Boxes Until September 16 for Chuseok Holiday to Promote Sharing Culture & Discovers ‘Donation+Sharing Shops’ and Installs Donation Kiosks to Spread Donation Culture in Daily Life ... Moon Heonil, Guro-gu Mayor, Visits Social Welfare Facilities on the 7th & District Supports 54 Welfare Facilities
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] All employees of Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) will personally visit neighbors in need, who are struggling due to unexpected flood damage and COVID-19, ahead of the traditional Korean holiday Chuseok, sharing the warmth of family affection.
The ‘Gwanak-gu Public Officials Volunteer Activity’ is a long-standing tradition promoted to share family warmth with vulnerable neighbors who are easily isolated during the holidays.
Public officials’ volunteer activities, which were temporarily suspended for the past two years due to COVID-19, will resume this Chuseok to help overcome the difficulties faced by residents due to flood damage.
The district designated August 30 to September 8 as the intensive volunteer week, during which volunteers visit senior centers, welfare facilities, single-parent families, and elderly living alone, carrying out volunteer activities throughout the district.
In addition to the 21 community service centers, departments linked with each neighborhood checked on neighbors who might be isolated or facing difficulties, providing various volunteer services such as house cleaning, hair dyeing for the elderly, reading books aloud, meal service, and facility safety inspections.
Especially, to recover from the recent heavy rain damage, all Gwanak-gu employees and volunteers worked hard, and they are still doing their best for flood recovery. Over 1,100 volunteers have actively participated in flood damage house cleanup, disinfection, environmental maintenance, wallpaper and flooring volunteer work to support affected residents.
Mayor Park Jun-hee also participated directly in volunteer activities. On the 7th, he visited the Gulcham Village Residents’ Shelter and joined the ‘Love Jeon Making’ volunteer activity with the Happy Mama Volunteer Group. Mayor Park conveyed messages of love and encouragement to neighbors struggling with flood damage and food insecurity, wishing them a warm holiday.
The Happy Mama Restaurant is a representative volunteer program of the Gwanak-gu Volunteer Center, providing a warm meal every week to low-income elderly and elementary school families to prevent food insecurity blind spots.
Mayor Park Jun-hee said, “I thank everyone who supports our vulnerable neighbors, including those recently affected by flood damage, so that everyone can have a warm and happy holiday. We will continue to work with volunteers to create a warm local community and a leading Gwanak-gu.”
Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jung Won-oh) is conducting a ‘Donation Sharing Campaign’ until September 16 in celebration of the 2022 Chuseok holiday.
The ‘Donation Sharing Campaign’ installs donation food collection boxes in places frequently visited by residents to collect money and goods from local residents. During the last Lunar New Year, a total of 291 cases worth approximately 122.66 million KRW in donated items were received, supporting 3,929 households including elderly living alone, disabled persons, and multicultural families.
This campaign is being conducted at 17 community service centers in Seongdong-gu and the Seongdong Hope Food Sharing Center (Director Chae Gwi-nam). Acceptable donated items include long-lasting foods such as rice, ramen, canned goods, and daily necessities like soap and detergent. However, items with less than three months remaining shelf life, fresh products, dairy products, or those with potential food safety concerns are excluded.
Donated items will be directly delivered to vulnerable groups through community centers or the ‘Visiting Mobile Food Market.’ The ‘Visiting Mobile Food Market’ is a service that visits the homes of residents who have difficulty going out due to old age, delivering groceries and other items.
Starting in September, the district plans to actively promote a donation culture that anyone can easily and voluntarily participate in daily life.
Through the ‘Seongdong Donation+Sharing Happiness Nutrient (소), Discovering Participating Stores’ project, restaurants and businesses in Seongdong-gu will be guided to donate 1-10% of daily sales (once a month), donate goods, or contribute small amounts such as under 1,000 KRW from employee wages, encouraging continuous donations. This project is jointly promoted with the Love Fruit Sharing Volunteer Group and is currently recruiting participating stores through flyers and street promotions.
Also, keeping pace with changing times, donation kiosks have been installed and operated in places with high foot traffic such as supermarkets and public institutions, encouraging small donations using donation terminals and QR codes during various events.
Mayor Jung Won-oh of Seongdong-gu said, “We are conducting the Chuseok donation sharing campaign so that those in need around us can spend a warm holiday. We will continue to promote various projects to spread the donation culture and carefully watch over those who might be left out.”
Guro-gu (Mayor Moon Heon-il) shared warm affection by visiting social welfare facilities ahead of the upcoming Chuseok holiday.
On the afternoon of the 7th, Mayor Moon visited two social welfare facilities, B’niel House and Helen’s House, which are residential facilities for the disabled, encouraging facility staff and delivering consolation money. (Photo)
Mayor Moon directly listened to the current status and difficulties from facility staff and urged them to do their best to ensure that residents have no inconveniences.
After the visits, Mayor Moon said, “This is a particularly difficult time due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and rising prices, so I am very concerned. I hope this holiday will be warm with sharing and caring for neighbors in need.”
Meanwhile, from the 1st to the 7th, Guro-gu, including Mayor Moon, senior officials, and heads of relevant departments, personally visited or transferred funds to 54 social welfare facilities and 7,775 low-income households, delivering consolation money and heartfelt support.
Gangnam-gu (Mayor Cho Sung-myung) saw local businesses, residents, and related organizations practicing neighborly love sharing ahead of the Chuseok holiday.
The Gangnam Welfare Foundation held a holiday consolation gift delivery ceremony on the 31st of last month and delivered consolation gifts such as rice and red ginseng to 1,000 households, including residents of Guryong Village affected by flood damage, from the 5th to the 8th.
Gaepo 1-dong, together with the Community Security Council, the Korean Red Cross Gangnam Seocho Volunteer Group, Nam Seoul Credit Union, and Gangnam Severance Hospital, joined forces to deliver daily necessities such as rice, ramen, and tissue to 544 low-income households in Guryong Village struggling due to flood damage from the 1st to the 8th.
The Nonhyeon 1-dong Community Security Council partnered with Nonhyeon Catholic Church, Yeongdong Church, and United Pharmaceutical to deliver 5.5 million KRW in holiday consolation money to 35 households affected by flooding from the 2nd to the 5th. Additionally, merchants operating restaurants, side dish shops, and rice cake shops in Yeongdong Traditional Market provided holiday meals to 60 flood victims and low-income households on the 7th, practicing warm sharing.
Apgujeong-dong also participated in holiday sharing. The Community Security Council, the village community project group ‘Apgujeong Bbangbbang,’ and Galleria Department Store Luxury Hall built a local cooperation sharing network, creating 40 Chuseok gift packages containing fruit sets, kitchen detergent sets, retort food sets, and bread handmade by ‘Apgujeong Bbangbbang’ residents, which were delivered to low-income elderly living alone on the 6th.
Suseo-dong held the ‘Chuseok Blessing Package Sharing Event’ on the 31st of last month. Pulmuone sponsored 200 food sets, which were delivered to 200 low-income households by the Youth Development Association Suseo Branch and the Suseo-dong Community Security Council. On the same day, Suseo Barun Orthopedic Clinic, a local hospital, also donated 20kg of rice to 80 households. On the 5th, Nam Seoul Eunhye Church in Suseo-dong delivered Ottogi gift sets to 200 low-income households, and SR Co., Ltd. provided 150 daily necessity sets to elderly living alone and severely disabled persons. On the 7th, the Gangnam Welfare Foundation, supported by Emart Suseo Branch, delivered food sets worth 1 million KRW to 33 households, continuing the warm sharing spirit.
The Nonhyeon 2-dong Youth Guidance Council delivered food kits containing yakgwa (traditional cookies) and sikhye (sweet rice drink) to 25 low-income youths on the 6th as part of the ‘Food Sharing Project for Youth Dietary Health.’
The Segok-dong Community Security Council delivered fruit boxes worth 3.8 million KRW to 100 low-income multi-child families from the 2nd to the 5th, sponsored by SR.
Mayor Cho Sung-myung of Gangnam-gu said, “I sincerely thank everyone who practiced warm sharing, thinking of neighbors who are having a harder holiday than usual due to the recent flood damage. The 8th administration of Gangnam-gu will further activate voluntary sharing culture to realize a ‘welfare city of inclusion and sharing.’”
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