Starbucks Donates 100 Million KRW for Dental Surgery Costs for Vulnerable Disabled Individuals

Partial Revenue from Seoul National University Dental Hospital Branch Funded

Starbucks Korea announced on the 6th that it has donated 100 million KRW to Seoul National University Dental Hospital to support dental surgery costs for underprivileged people with disabilities to improve their oral health.

The fund was created as part of a business agreement between Starbucks and Seoul National University Dental Hospital, using a portion of the proceeds from the community store No. 3, the ‘Seoul National University Dental Hospital Branch.’ Since 2021, Starbucks has provided a total of 400 million KRW in funds to 139 severely disabled young adults and patients with rare and intractable diseases to establish a safety net for oral health for people with disabilities.

Starbucks donated 100 million KRW to fund dental surgery costs for disabled youth and children. Kim Young-hoon, Head of External Cooperation Team at Seoul National University Dental Hospital; Cho Jeong-hwan, Director of External Cooperation Office at Seoul National University Dental Hospital; Kwon Soon-mi, Manager of Starbucks Seoul National University Dental Hospital Branch; Kim Ji-young, Head of Starbucks ESG Team. Photo by Starbucks

A guardian of a fully recovered patient who received surgery cost support by participating in the oral health safety net project in 2022 expressed gratitude, saying, “Thanks to Starbucks and Seoul National University Dental Hospital, we were able to receive dental treatment that we hesitated to get due to disability and treatment costs,” and added, “I am happy to create new memories every day with my healthy daughter.”

Additionally, to commemorate the fund donation, Starbucks invited the ‘Einsbaum Wind Chamber,’ a wind orchestra featuring both people with developmental disabilities and non-disabled individuals, to perform. They also held a coffee seminar themed “A Society Where People with and without Disabilities Live Together” for the medical staff of Seoul National University Dental Hospital, dental surgery patients, and their guardians.

Kim Ji-young, head of Starbucks ESG Team, said, “We are pleased that patients can regain their daily lives that had been temporarily lost through the oral health safety net project,” and added, “We will continue to actively support creating an equal society where people with and without disabilities live together.”

Meanwhile, the Seoul National University Dental Hospital Branch, the community store No. 3, is the first profit-sharing store in Korea with the meaning of realizing social value through promoting employment of people with disabilities and improving disability awareness. Among the 15 total staff members, eight partners with disabilities, accounting for half, are working at the store.

Currently, the number of partners with disabilities working at Starbucks is 517, with 52 of them holding mid-level manager positions or higher, continuing equal and non-discriminatory hiring practices.

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