President Kang Byung-il of Samchully Business Headquarters.

Samchully kicks off the Clean Day program at the Siwhaho Embankment.(Photos:Samchully)

Samchully Group has been fully committed to its social obligations, touching the people’s hearts with diverse social programs in Korea and overseas, the group said recently. The group, which celebrated its 60th anniversary, has been focusing on the special features of the “Clean Day” program, which is designed to keep the environment beautiful. 

The “Gas Safety Love Sharing” team is assigned to inspect gas facilities in the homes of senior citizens who are not well off economically to maintain safety. The team consists of volunteers who are divided into a number of smaller teams, who are all committed to working for the good of society. Vice President Kang Byung-il has been promoted to President of Samchully Business Headquarters in a recent personnel shake up in the group.

Samchully kick-started the Clean Day program with an aim of leaving a clean environment legacy for the next generations of people. Intensive preservation work has been undertaken to replenish and maintain nature as part of the environmental commitment.

The program has been further upgraded from its original aim of keeping the environment clean to preserving natural environments and fostering an environment-friendly social culture.

The movement has grown to include local autonomous organizations and residents, who join officers and staff of the group working towards a common goal.

Since the program’s launch in 2005, it has covered Mt. Cheongryang in Incheon; Mt. Doksan in Osan; planting trees on the Shihwa Tidal Wave Banks; installing environment-friendly facilities; joining wild fire prevention campaigns; and other environment-friendly activities. 

Since 2004, the group has been checking, repairing and upgrading gas equipment for poor citizens for free under the campaign “Gas Safety Love Sharing.” The group has been focusing its social welfare activities on economically-isolated people, including the handicapped, those who live on welfare, families with one parent, senior citizens living alone, and others who need help, starting with checking welfare facilities for safety, repairing and replacing outdated boilers, gas ranges and gas times, among others, to prevent accidents related with gas so that they can live safely and use gas conveniently.

Samchully has not stopped at giving donations and other support to the needy one-off events, but continues to extend a helping hand through sincere and systematic service programs. The group set up teams in such cities as Suwon, Gunpo and Yongin to help those in need, particularly senior citizens living alone and the handicapped, providing them with such services as washing their laundry, cleaning their houses and giving them baths.

The wives of the group’s executives and its affiliates, known as the “Executives Wives Group,” also participate in social service activities around three times annually. They visit children’s homes and residential facilities, helping with laundry, making kimchi, and other diverse services related to improving the quality of life in regional communities. They also visited military units with sisterhood ties to thank them for their service for the country.

The group set up the Cheonman Scholarship Foundation in 1987 to give scholarships to students from poor families and provide their research funds. Since the foundation was set up, some 1,643 students have received 4.5 billion won in scholarships. From 2009, the foundation selected 20 high school students to take care of their college expenses for their four-year college career, depending on their academic record, at universities or colleges.

Aiming at finding talented youth in sports and nurturing their talent, last year the group expanded its social service activities to athletics through the Samschully Sports Foundation. Last April 17-19, the foundation held the “Samshcully Together Open 2015” event in cooperation with the Korea Women’s Golf Association. Talented youths learned golfing skills from professional golfers..