The Korea Child Welfare Association, with support from the Post Office Public Interest Foundation, conducted the ‘Youth Bapsim Start On (溫)’ meal support project from March to December this year for youth preparing for independence who are in unstable environments during their early stages of self-reliance.
‘Youth Bapsim Start On (溫)’ provided practical assistance in resolving meal issues for 215 youths struggling with early independence by supporting them with prepaid cards worth 300,000 KRW per month for 10 months. Through continuous monitoring of card usage, vulnerable youths were identified and supported to achieve stable independent living.
Additionally, at the ‘Networking Day’ event hosted by the Korea Post Service Headquarters, participants enjoyed a restaurant dinner and visited an observatory to encourage independence. The program also included tailored youth health meal promotion activities such as nutrition lectures, cooking classes, and monthly meal information provision to strengthen daily living independence skills.
Kim Sujeong (a pseudonym), who participated in ‘Youth Bapsim Start On (溫)’, shared, “Living alone, the rising cost of living made purchasing ingredients or dining out burdensome, but with the meal support, my financial concerns were alleviated, allowing me to eat foods and fruits I usually wanted without worry, enabling a balanced diet.”
A representative of the Korea Child Welfare Association stated, “Every year, about 2,500 youths preparing for independence start living alone at an early age, facing significant economic and psychological burdens. Providing meal support in the early stages of independence will serve as a foundation for a strong and stable self-reliance.”
The Korea Child Welfare Association, which has 263 child welfare facilities nationwide as members, operates various support projects such as policy and research, and educational programs for member facilities. It plans to continuously provide support projects by identifying diverse needs so that children under protection and youths preparing for independence in child welfare facilities can settle stably in society.
Meanwhile, the Post Office Public Interest Foundation is a foundation established by the Korea Post Service Headquarters to enhance the expertise, efficiency, and sustainability of public interest projects. Utilizing resources from postal savings and postal insurance, it is promoting public interest projects worth approximately 9 billion KRW benefiting about 60,000 people including children, the elderly, and the disabled.
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