Participants perform during the launch ceremony of the “Turtle Peer Talent Volunteer Corps” at POSCO Human Resources Development Institute’s Gwangyang campus on the 21st. Photo courtesy of POSCO Gwangyang Steelworks
GWANGYANG — New employees at POSCO’s Gwangyang Steelworks have voluntarily formed a group to provide skill-based volunteer service for local neighbors with disabilities. The company said the effort aims to further spread the culture of consideration and sharing built up by senior volunteers.
The steelworks said on the 24th that the “Turtle Peer Talent Volunteer Corps” will carry out tailored service activities for neighbors with disabilities. The corps is made up of 51 new employees and is the steelworks’ second volunteer group formed by new hires.
Earlier, in February this year, POSCO launched its first new-hire volunteer group, the “Art in Peer Talent Volunteer Corps,” which pairs volunteers with children for art activities.
The newly launched “Turtle Peer Talent Volunteer Corps” focuses on activities alongside neighbors with disabilities. The name “Turtle” reflects a commitment to building a better tomorrow with these neighbors through slow but steady steps.
Corps members will look after the daily lives of local residents with disabilities who have trouble getting around and carry out service tailored to their needs. Through this, the group plans to help improve their quality of life.
A launch ceremony held on the 21st of this month drew 21 local facilities and organizations related to people with disabilities. Attendees included the Gwangyang Welfare Center for the Disabled, the Gwangyang Association for the Disabled and the Gwangyang Center for Independent Living. The Gwangyang chapter of the Korea Blind Union and the Gwangyang chapter of the Jeonnam Association of the Physically Disabled also took part.
The corps’s activities are divided into four main areas.
First, the group will conduct “safety activities” to address safety issues in the daily lives of people with disabilities, including the production of assistive devices and safety kits. It will also pursue “culture and leisure activities” for their emotional support, such as forest experiences and cultural events. The corps will hold “food experience activities,” in which members make food and share it with neighbors, and it will also run “campaign activities” to improve public awareness of people with disabilities.
Park Jong-il, deputy head of administration at the Gwangyang Steelworks, said this is the second volunteer group formed among new-hire peers, adding that it “will take root as a volunteer culture unique to the Gwangyang Steelworks.” He added that he hopes it “will become a starting point for creating positive change in the local community by carrying on POSCO’s distinctive spirit of sharing.”
The steelworks has been ramping up its “peer volunteer corps” activities this year. Through them, the company aims to strengthen the links of sharing across generations and build a volunteer culture that grows together with the local community.