MEDIA / H-Story

The Volunteer Team affiliated with Hyundai Corporation Group, titled the Seoul Raphael’s House, visited ‘The Seoul Raphael’s House’ located at the residential area of Jongnno-gu Chebu-dong on June 28(Mon) to support a total of 1,065, 450 won’s worth of daily supplies such as diapers and wet tissues, etc., and shared a pleasant conversation with the personnel engaged in the House.

’The Seoul Raphael’s House’ is the support space for the children having multiple, severe disabilities, which is operated by a social welfare foundation titled Hasang Welfare Foundation, and it is said that the Seoul Raphael’s House service activity first began with the aim to give support to the blind and mute at Jongno-gu Jeokseon-dong in back 1979. After that, it moved into Insa-dong, Jongno-gu, and had a lease on a building space with difficulty; fortuitously, this House got to settle down in the present building which was donated by a benefactor in 2003. Thus, it is not an exaggeration to say that this House is a time-honored welfare space which has been created by numerous contributors and volunteers for over four decades.

Those sponsored articles of the day, which were arranged through the money collected from the Volunteer Team members’ monthly dues, are to be used for the children with disabilities who reside in ‘Seoul Raphael’s House.’ At present, 10 or so children with multiple, severe disabilities are living at this place. This Volunteer Team is giving support to those children to make it possible for them to lead a universal everyday living by providing the support programs connected with educational, medical rehabilitations, and special education, which are suited for personal characteristics.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, surely a big help were volunteers’ frequent contacts with this House for working together with the social workers engaged in this House for the sake of those children, but now, the social workers say there are lots of hardships as even volunteers are inaccessible to this place due to no admittance to outsiders.

The Hyundai Corporation Group’s Volunteer Team which was first formed as a gathering for spontaneous volunteers in back 2018, has proceeded with free meal services for ‘‘Jongno Slice Room’ dwellers at the neighboring Jongno 3-ga Station twice monthly since its establishment, and provided the dosshouse dwellers with 200 servings of ginseng chicken soup so that they could beat the hot and sultry summer in July, 2019, and also provided sealing machines for meal service packing in November.

In addition, during the winter season every year, the Volunteer Team once started coal briquette sharing support and volunteering activity for Nowon-gu Baeksa Village and Gangnam-gu Guryong Village, etc., which are known as a shantytown of Seoul, by doing ‘a Fund-raising Campaign for Briquette Sharing Support’ together with the employees at the head office for the purpose of making it possible for the underprivileged such as the low-income group and elderly household, etc. to go through wintering warmly.

Meanwhile, the super intendent of the Seoul Raphael’s House’, Park, Jeong-mi (the person in the center of the above photo) welcomed the Volunteer Team’s visit on the very day, and sent expressions of gratitude again and again, saying “As it happens, we have been acutely short of daily necessities like diapers, etc., but I cannot express my thanks in words for your useful support at a proper time”, and Ms. Park also wished all employees’ ‘Health and Development.’