Mapo-gu 'Banchan Factory' Completed... "Freshly Cooked Filial Piety Meals for the Elderly"

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District Mayor Park Gang-su: "Side Dish Factory Expected to Play a Pivotal Role in Expanding HyoDobapsang Project"

Mapo-gu (Mayor Park Gang-su) is completing the construction of the ‘Banchan Factory,’ which began in the second half of last year to expand the ‘Resident Participation Eoldobapsang’ project, and will hold a completion ceremony on the 15th.

The ‘Banchan Factory’ is a facility capable of preparing large-scale meals provided to the ‘Eoldobapsang’ meal service institutions. The district announced that with this, the Eoldobapsang meal service has become more efficiently operated by adding a hub-type mobile meal service method to the existing on-site cooking meal service method.

The Resident Participation Eoldobapsang is Mapo-gu’s representative senior welfare project that protects the health and safety of local seniors aged 75 and older by providing lunch, checking on their well-being, and preventing isolation.

Starting in April last year with 7 meal service institutions and about 160 elderly living alone, the ‘Resident Participation Eoldobapsang’ has now expanded to 17 Eoldobapsang institutions and about 500 seniors, with an average usage rate of 90% among beneficiaries, resulting in high user satisfaction and overwhelming requests for project expansion.

Accordingly, the district sought ways to expand users without investing a huge budget. Instead of securing meal service institutions with cooking facilities, they established a meal preparation center to cook food and deliver it to each meal service institution. This new system is the background for building the ‘Eoldobapsang Banchan Factory.’

The newly completed ‘Banchan Factory’ is a two-story building with a total floor area of 246.19㎡. The first floor includes cooking, packaging, washing, food storage rooms, and a kitchen area, while the second floor houses offices and break rooms for staff. The ‘Banchan Factory’ can prepare meals for a total of 1,000 people per day and is named ‘Banchan Factory’ so that anyone from children to the elderly can easily recognize it.

Hansem Co., Ltd., a company based in Mapo-gu, generously supported the ‘Banchan Factory’ and the Eoldobapsang meal service institution project. Hansem provided kitchen facilities and furniture such as desks on the second floor of the ‘Banchan Factory’ and also supported kitchen construction and furniture for three Eoldobapsang senior centers, greatly contributing to the Eoldobapsang project for Mapo residents.

On the 15th, the district will hold the completion ceremony for the Banchan Factory and begin operating six new Eoldobapsang meal service institutions. After a one-week pilot operation period, nine additional meal service institutions will open on the 22nd, and by the end of this month, meals prepared at the ‘Banchan Factory’ will be delivered to a total of 15 meal service institutions.

Furthermore, the district plans to pilot the Eoldobapsang meal service at 2 to 3 existing senior centers in the first half of the year and expand it to local senior centers in the second half. By the end of the year, they aim to recruit an additional 1,000 beneficiaries, providing Eoldobapsang meals to a total of 1,500 seniors.

In light of the possibility raised during the 22nd general election and government announcements at the livelihood forum that senior meal policies may be expanded nationwide, Mapo-gu expects the ‘Resident Participation Eoldobapsang’ and ‘Banchan Factory’ projects to become a pioneering model case for South Korea.

Mayor Park Gang-su said, “The Eoldobapsang project is an essential initiative in preparation for an aging society,” adding, “I believe that the efficient Eoldobapsang meal service system through the Banchan Factory will be a watershed moment that can expand the Eoldobapsang target to all seniors in the future.”