Gwangju Seo-gu 'Happiness Farm Project' Promotion

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Shin Dong-ho] Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Seo Dae-seok) announced on the 28th that it will expand the ‘Happiness Farm(nida)’ project, which started last April to prevent dementia among the elderly in the district and establish an emotional support system.

This project involves elderly residents at local senior centers and dementia-specialized volunteers called ‘Parangsae Messengers’ growing various crops together, creating ‘Happiness Packages’ from the harvested crops, and delivering them to 40 registered dementia patient households to foster a dementia-friendly environment.

Due to the positive response to the previously conducted project, Seo-gu added Hwajeong 3-dong and Yudeok-dong following Sangmu 2-dong, resulting in a total of 15 senior centers participating in the project.

Four local day care centers and two welfare centers are also participating in the project.

Starting this month, the 15 senior centers will grow seasonal crops such as napa cabbage, kimchi radish, altari radish, spinach, and green onions together with the Parangsae Messengers, and share the harvested crops with dementia patients every month.

Additionally, at the end of November, the harvest season, excellent senior centers will be selected and awarded by crop categories such as ‘Napa Cabbage Queen’ and ‘Spinach Princess,’ with a ceremony and presentation of prizes.

An elderly participant in the project said, “It feels new and refreshing to think of competing with other senior centers on who grows the best crops,” adding, “I will try even harder to cultivate the crops with care.”

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Shin Dong-ho sdhs6751@asiae.co.kr

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.