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[Sponsored Report] KDB provides support to one-room dwellers

Published: 23 Apr. 2017, 18:04

From left: Cho Chang-ik from the Dongdaemun Single-Room Counseling Center, chief of the center Lee Kyung-hee, and KDB Chairman Lee Dong-geol. [KDB]

While the popular shopping district Dongdaemun bustles with tourists and visitors, many of its back alleys are filled with people who live in tiny single rooms. The Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Dongdaemun Single-Room Counseling Center have taken action to help them. On April 20, Korea Development Bank donated 10 million won ($8,810) to the center, part of the company’s KDB Daddy Longlegs Project.

The center conducts various projects to help underprivileged people who live behind the lively shopping streets of Dongdaemun. Established in 2003, it aims to prevent them from becoming homeless and to encourage their participation in society. Five staff members provide welfare services for 330 single-room residents, including job counseling, medical services, as well as laundry and haircut services. Most of the residents are elderly people, and 45 percent of them receive living subsidies from the government.

The center’s chief Lee Kyung-hee said, “We were able to paint the rooms and provide iced water in the summer for the residents,” and thanked the bank. KDB has been supporting single room residents for 13 years. The KDB Daddy Longlegs Project is a different kind of social contribution project that was suggested by Chairman Lee Dong-geol. The Chairman commented, “The bank plans to expand the project to help people neglected by the society.”

BY KIM KYU-EUN [[email protected]]