The Baengnyeong-myeon Township Community Social Security Council of Ongjin-gun County (co-chairs Lee Seung-wook and Park Sang-jun) carried out the ‘Sharing the Holidays! Sharing Happiness! Project’ on the 23rd, ahead of Chuseok, delivering holiday food packages to 400 vulnerable senior households in the township. The project stood out because volunteers visited each home in person to look after island seniors facing the holiday without family.
 [The Korean Today] Baengnyeong-myeon Community Social Security Council delivering Chuseok beef bone soup gift sets © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
Recipients included seniors aged 65 and older who live alone and spend the holidays by themselves, as well as seniors aged 80 and older. The council’s ‘heartfelt beef bone soup gift set’ contained two packs of rich sari gomtang beef bone soup, one pack of rice cake slices for tteokguk and one serving of ramen noodles. The items were chosen because they are easy to prepare, so seniors can make a meal without much effort.
Council members were joined by village heads, heads of local women’s associations, life support workers from the customized elderly care service and staff from the Baengnyeong-myeon Office. They brought the gift sets directly to recipients’ homes, checking on the seniors’ health and living conditions and exchanging greetings.
By combining the delivery of goods with in-person welfare checks, the project did more than hand out holiday gifts. Village heads and women’s association heads who know the seniors’ circumstances well, along with life support workers from the care field, took part in the visits, giving them another chance to check on seniors living alone and older residents, who are more likely to fall through gaps in care during the holidays. It is also notable that resident organizations, local administration and care workers worked together on Baengnyeong Island, the northernmost island in the West Sea, far from the mainland.
The project was funded by the Community Chest of Korea and donations from local residents. Residents’ contributions went back to their elderly neighbors, and the project is being viewed as a model case of a local community practicing sharing on its own.
 [The Korean Today] Council members and volunteers taking part in the ‘Sharing the Holidays! Sharing Happiness! Project’ © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
Lee Seung-wook, the co-chair representing the private sector, said, “This event went beyond simply sharing food and became an opportunity for all members of the community to share warmth and affection with one another.” He added, “I hope the carefully prepared gift sets will help provide the seniors with a warm meal.”
Park Sang-jun, head of Baengnyeong-myeon and the co-chair representing the public sector, said, “We will continue to look carefully after our neighbors and will keep planning and carrying out various projects for local welfare so that no resident in our area is left out.”
In island areas with a high proportion of elderly residents, home-visit sharing programs run jointly by the public and private sectors also serve as a safety net against seniors’ isolation. The task ahead is whether such activities will continue beyond the holidays, as the council and the township office have pledged.
[ Reporter Kim Mi-hee: incheonsouth@thekoreantoday.com ]
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