Seoul volunteer center brings relief to elderly waste collectors amid heat wave

The Seoul Metropolitan Volunteer Center announced Friday it will run a two-month intensive care campaign through Aug. 31 to support 1,000 elderly residents who collect discarded cardboard and paper for a living and are left dangerously exposed to the heat while working outdoors. The campaign, titled "Yeoreum-ae Naeum — Mudeowei-reul Mu" (a summer sharing initiative to beat the heat), aims to reach seniors before the worst of the summer heat arrives.

The campaign goes beyond handing out supplies, focusing instead on increasing face-to-face contact between volunteers and seniors to prevent social isolation. More than 600 volunteer camp activists across Seoul will head into alleyways to visit the elderly in person, deliver heat-prevention items and check on their well-being.

The care kits include wide-brimmed hats, cushions, fans, bottled water, cooling lotion and cooling wipes — all chosen for their practical value in extreme heat. Volunteers will pack the items together with a handwritten letter and a heat-prevention guide before delivering them directly to the seniors. This year, corporate social responsibility sponsorships have expanded the kit contents further.

The campaign is linked to the center's flagship community care project, a neighborhood outreach program that identifies isolated residents, checks on them and connects them with support. The initiative aims to strengthen ties between elderly waste collectors and local residents through volunteering, building a tightly knit community of mutual care.

Over the past four years, more than 89,000 people have taken part in the center's neighborhood outreach volunteer activities, reaching over 160,000 isolated residents. The center supports 368 volunteer camps with about 1.6 billion won ($1.07 million), working through a governance network of district-level volunteer centers, community service centers and volunteer camps to promote grassroots volunteering across the city.

"I hope these prevention kits offer real, cooling relief to the elderly waste collectors who toil through the worsening heat," Seoul Metropolitan Volunteer Center director Song Chang-hun said. "We will continue to extend a warm hand to the unseen corners of our society so that seniors can get through the summer safely, even amid their grueling daily routines."