Jungnang Happy Farm Allots 265 Garden Plots and 25 Pear Trees... Yeongdeungpo-gu Provides 130,000 Rapid Antigen Test Kits to Daycare Centers

[Seoul District News] Jungnang-gu recruits residents to lease vegetable gardens and pear trees at three Jungnang Happiness Farms from March 2 to create an eco-friendly green city... Yangcheon-gu recruits participants for jang-making at Yangcheon Urban Agriculture Park Jangdokdae... Dongdaemun-gu Cheongnyangni-dong Hope Welfare Committee supports school bags and enrollment preparation funds for low-income elementary, middle, and high school students... Yeongdeungpo-gu provides 130,000 test kits for daycare infants (12 kits twice a week for 6 weeks) and childcare teachers (4 kits once a week for 4 weeks); on the 25th, 9,281 daycare infants receive 4 kits each

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Jungnang-gu (Mayor Ryu Gyeong-gi) will recruit residents to lease vegetable gardens and pear trees at three Jungnang Happiness Farms starting March 2nd to create an eco-friendly green city Jungnang.

The Jungnang Happiness Farm leasing project is in its fourth year this year, aiming to promote urban agriculture by providing residents with eco-friendly weekend farms to enjoy wholesome leisure activities within the city and to offer opportunities to experience urban farming.

This year, the district will lease a total of 265 vegetable garden plots and 25 pear trees: 130 plots at Jungnang Happiness Farm 1 (256-9 Sinnnae-dong), 50 plots and 25 pear trees at Jungnang Happiness Farm 2 (423-43 Mangu-dong), and 85 plots at Jungnang Happiness Farm 3 (113-2 Mangu-dong).

Any Jungnang resident can apply, with one plot per household allowed. The annual leasing fee is 30,000 KRW for vegetable gardens and 100,000 KRW for pear trees.

Applications can be submitted from March 2 to 7 via the Jungnang-gu Office website → Citizen Participation → Leasing Application Bulletin Board. Winners will be selected through a random computerized draw.

Successful applicants will be notified individually by text message on March 11 and can also check the results on the district office website. Those selected can use the farms from April through November.

Mayor Ryu Gyeong-gi of Jungnang-gu said, “We hope residents can heal their tired minds and regain vitality through gardening. We will continue to promote urban agriculture projects so that residents can enjoy a nature-friendly life and wholesome leisure.”

To meet residents’ interest in urban agriculture, the district has developed Jungnang Happiness Farms 1, 2, and 3, jointly hosted the Seoul Urban Agriculture Expo with Seoul City, and established the dedicated Urban Agriculture Division in July last year to implement various related projects.

For more details about the Jungnang Happiness Farm leasing, please visit the Jungnang-gu Office website or contact the Urban Agriculture Division.

Yangcheon-gu (Mayor Kim Soo-young) is recruiting participants for the ‘Jang Making Experience’ held at the Urban Agriculture Park from February 23 to March 11.

Last year, the Yangcheon Jangdokdae (jang jar stand) established at Yangcheon-gu Urban Agriculture Park involved 102 activists from 20 teams, including 18 community centers, multicultural families, and North Korean defectors, producing 2,500 sets of jang (fermented sauces) donated to vulnerable groups. The jang making activity at the Urban Agriculture Park is a representative local sharing culture project practicing coexistence through social urban agriculture.

This year, the recruitment fields have expanded to ▲ Experience-type jang making jars (60 individuals, 15 groups) and ▲ Participation-type jars for community donation (5 groups).

The district plans to promote ‘THE Healthy Yangcheon Jangdokdae,’ a brand unique to Yangcheon-gu harmonizing nature and people, targeting individuals interested in traditional jang making or groups of at least five members such as village clubs and educational institutions.

The participation fee is 35,000 KRW including VAT for the experience type, while the participation type for donation is free. Residents interested in jang making at the Urban Agriculture Park can apply by phone (experience type individual) or submit an application form in person to the Community Health Division (experience and participation type groups) by March 11.

Participants in the experience-type jang making will receive 3 kg of doenjang (fermented soybean paste) and 500 ml of soy sauce produced after safety and component testing by the Health and Environment Research Institute. All jang produced by participation-type groups will be donated to the community through the Yangcheon Love Welfare Foundation.

The traditional jang making experience proceeds in the order of ▲ ‘Traditional jang making’ using meju (fermented soybean blocks), salt, and water ▲ ‘Separating jang’ into doenjang and soy sauce after fermentation ▲ 6 months of fermentation and maturation management ▲ ‘Sharing jang’ with neighbors.

For more information about the ‘2022 Urban Agriculture Park Yangcheon Jangdokdae Jang Making’ participant recruitment, please contact the Community Health Division.

Mayor Kim Soo-young of Yangcheon-gu said, “We hope many people interested in the Urban Agriculture Park jang making project will participate to restore community values and practice the virtue of sharing by making jang together with neighbors.”

Mr. Oh ○○ (Cheongnyangni-dong), a father of four children, was worried for a while about the school bags for his twins entering elementary school this year. Although he wanted to buy new bags the children desired, it was a burden as only his husband was barely working. While considering buying secondhand bags, recently residents of Cheongnyangni-dong stepped up and gifted the bags.

The Cheongnyangni-dong Community Center (Director Hwang Sang-jun) and the Cheongnyangni-dong Hope Welfare Committee (Chairman Park Se-jun), operated through public-private cooperation, supported five elementary school entrants from low-income families, including Mr. Oh’s children, with school bags they wanted on the 15th using the Hope Welfare Fund.

Chairman Park Se-jun of the Hope Welfare Committee said, “Our role is to support various welfare services so that children from low-income families can grow up properly toward their dreams. Especially before school starts, we launched the school bag support project so children can gain confidence and hold hope and dreams for the future in their first school experience.”

Ms. Oh, mother of the twins who received the school bags, said, “Seeing the children happily carrying new school bags makes me very happy. The bags were expensive and secondhand ones were not easy to find, so I was worried, but the Hope Welfare Committee solved my big concern and supported the children’s new start. I am very grateful.”

Additionally, on the 18th, the Hope Welfare Committee provided 100,000 KRW each as school preparation funds to 18 students from low-income families preparing to enter middle and high school, allowing them to purchase desired supplies.

During this process, the committee contacted students individually to survey necessary supplies for school preparation and helped them buy items suited to each person.

One student who received books said, “I bought 10 books I wanted for the first time. It’s amazing and so happy that all these books are mine.”

Director Hwang Sang-jun of Cheongnyangni-dong said, “We hope this support will ease the economic burden on parents of low-income families and help children grow properly with hope and confidence toward their dreams. We will continue to actively work with public and private sectors to provide various support for our children.”

Also, Baebong Saemaeul Geumgo (Chairman Kim Ran-hee), located in Jeonnong 2-dong, delivered 1 million KRW on the 18th as school preparation funds for students preparing for the new semester and new start (300,000 KRW each for two middle school students and 400,000 KRW for one high school student). Baebong Saemaeul Geumgo has been supporting school preparation funds for middle and high school students annually since 2020 for community development.

Chairman Kim Ran-hee of Baebong Saemaeul Geumgo said, “Despite the difficult situation caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, we hope the school preparation funds will help students starting anew for their future.”

Dongdaemun-gu will provide 200,000 KRW to elementary school entrants and 300,000 KRW to middle and high school entrants via Zero Pay this year.

Yeongdeungpo-gu (Mayor Chae Hyun-il) will provide rapid antigen test kits to daycare centers.

With the rapid spread of COVID-19 (Omicron), the district plans to distribute a total of 130,000 rapid antigen test kits to daycare centers where immunity is low and infection risk is high due to group living, aiming to prevent infections through proactive testing.

First, on the 25th, 37,124 rapid antigen test kits will be distributed to 9,281 infants aged 0-5 at 232 daycare centers in the area. Each child will receive 4 kits, enough for two weeks of use.

Including the first batch, infants at daycare centers are expected to receive a total of 12 test kits over six weeks, using two kits per week.

The first batch prioritizes infants based on requests from childcare sites, and once more kits are secured, about 2,800 childcare staff will also receive kits.

Childcare staff will be provided with 4 test kits each, one per week for four weeks. In total, 130,000 test kits will be supplied to daycare centers covering both infants and staff.

The kits come in boxes of 25 individually packaged tests for easy distribution. After receiving the kits, testing can be done at home and daycare centers as needed.

The district will also supply a total of 56,220 masks (20 per person) to childcare staff to create a safe childcare environment.

A district official said, “With the recent spread of COVID-19 variants, infection concerns in childcare settings are very high. We expect rapid antigen test kits to help curb the spread. We ask everyone to follow personal hygiene and quarantine rules carefully for a safe childcare environment.”

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