Donating Money Saved for Over a Year
Saving 50,000 to 100,000 Won Each Month from Living Expenses
An elderly person in Busan, who is a basic livelihood security recipient, donated 1 million won, asking that the government support funds they received be used for single-parent families.
According to Yonhap News on the 14th, citing Buk-gu, Busan, a man in his 70s visited the Deokcheon 3-dong Administrative Welfare Center in Buk-gu, Busan on the 10th and handed a crumpled white envelope to a welfare officer.
The envelope, calmly handed over by the elderly man hoping it would be used for a single-parent family in financial difficulty, contained 1 million won.
This elderly person was a basic livelihood security recipient and had been managing the living expenses received as a basic livelihood security recipient by keeping a household ledger. He steadily saved between 50,000 won and 100,000 won per month to prepare this donation.
He also firmly refused any events such as donation ceremonies or tea gatherings that would publicize his name, saying that no troublesome things were needed for this heartfelt good deed. The elderly man said, "I can manage by saving my living expenses alone, but how hard must it be for a single-parent family with children? Even if I want to help directly, I don't know who they are, so I can't help. Please make sure the Administrative Welfare Center uses it well where it is most needed."
Deokcheon 3-dong plans to use the donation for welfare projects that can help the daily lives of single-parent families in difficult circumstances. The Deokcheon 3-dong Administrative Welfare Center stated that the donation will be contributed to the self-fundraising project "9988 Sarangeul Sitgo" (Carrying Love), jointly promoted with the Deokcheon Comprehensive Social Welfare Center and the Community Security Council, and will be used for family-friendly projects targeting single-parent families.
Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's "2023 Life of Men and Women in Statistics" data, as of 2022, there are 1,494,000 single-parent households, accounting for 6.9% of general households. Among single-parent households, 75.6%, or 1,129,000 households, are female single parents. The population of unmarried mothers is about 20,100, and unmarried fathers number 5,900.
As of 2021, there are 370,000 single-parent households raising children under 18 years old. This accounts for 7.7% of the total 4,830,000 households raising children under 18. In the case of single-parent households, most have lower income levels compared to general households. According to the 2021 Single-Parent Family Survey, the average monthly income of single-parent households is only 58.8% of that of all households.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
