S-Oil delivers 500 Chuseok gift packages to local community

Industry

Published: 22 Sep. 2023, 17:42 Updated: 22 Sep. 2023, 19:20

S-Oil delivers 500 Chuseok gift packages to local community

S-Oil CEO Anwar A. Al-Hejazi, left, delivers 500 Chuseok gift packages to a local community center with the Mapo Community Welfare Center of Loveaid Foundation on Friday. [S-OIL]

S-Oil delivered Chuseok harvest holiday gift packages worth 50 million won ($37,400) in a charity event for low-income households in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Friday.

The oil refiner wrapped songpyeon (moon-shaped Korean traditional rice cake) in 500 Chuseok gift packages to community centers near its headquarters in Mapo District. Mapo Community Welfare Center of Loveaid Foundation co-hosted the event.

Songpyeon is traditionally eaten during Chuseok to show gratitude for the year’s harvest and to wish upon the moon — hence its shape — for another fruitful harvest.

A hundred S-Oil employees, including CEO Anwar A. Al-Hejazi, participated in the charity event. Saudi Arabian students studying in Korea and children at corporate day care centers also joined as volunteers.

“To my knowledge, Chuseok is a meaningful holiday to Koreans when people celebrate the autumn harvest and share food with neighbors,” said Al-Hejazi. “We will make ceaseless efforts to deliver warmth to lonely neighbors with our small gifts.”

S-Oil has been hosting charity events to share songpyeon with local communities on every Chuseok since 2007.

The oil company on Monday donated 470 million won for firefighters and their families to be used as medical funds and scholarships.

It has so far provided financial support worth 10 billion won for some 3,000 firefighters and family members over the past 18 years.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]