Garden established at Seongdong-gu Vision Training Center to improve the local environment and support emotional recovery for vulnerable groups; seasonal programs run from May through December, from summer watering to winter mini-gardening
Seoul Metro (President Kim Tae-gyun) is launching a community service initiative called "Recovery Garden: Growing Hope," in which company employees and vulnerable community members — including homeless individuals — will together cultivate a garden on unused land at the Seoul Metropolitan Government-run Vision Training Center in Seongdong-gu.
The project aims to improve conditions in neighborhoods affected by noise and dust from urban railway depot and integrated control center construction, while supporting the emotional recovery of vulnerable people working toward social independence.
Seoul Metropolitan Government operates the Seoul Metropolitan Vision Training Center through a private consignment arrangement to support the emotional stability and social reintegration of vulnerable groups, including homeless individuals with alcohol dependency.
Seoul Metro plans to tend a garden spanning roughly 132 square meters — about 40 pyeong, with 1 pyeong equal to 3.3 square meters — through four seasonal programs running from May to December. The first volunteer session, held May 29, focused on soil improvement and planting leafy vegetables. Upcoming sessions will cover summer weeding and watering, an autumn garden featuring chrysanthemums and cosmos, and indoor mini-gardening in winter.
Each session will bring together 25 participants: 15 Seoul Metro employees and 10 vulnerable residents affiliated with the Vision Training Center.
Seoul Metro has continued to expand its community outreach. Last September, it partnered with the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and Seongdong-gu Office to purchase produce harvested from rural farms and donate it to three social welfare facilities in Seongdong-gu, including the Vision Training Center.
"We hope that the small act of tending a garden becomes a seed of new hope and recovery for someone," said Han Yeong-hui, head of Seoul Metro's planning division. "Seoul Metro will go beyond ensuring the safe mobility of citizens to embrace the lives of local communities and vulnerable groups, and we will continue to expand our sustainable social contribution activities."
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