128 welfare facilities, 700 low-income households to receive rice and holiday food packages
GS Caltex, a tenant company at the Yeosu Petrochemical National Industrial Complex, donated 130 million won ($96,600) worth of goods ahead of the Chuseok holiday, asking that the items be used for "underserved neighbors in the community."
The company's Yeosu factory held the "2026 GS Caltex Chuseok Sharing of Warmth" event Tuesday at Exhibition Hall D of the International Pavilion at the Yeosu World Expo site.
About 70 people attended the donation event, including Yeosu Mayor Seo Yeong-hak, Yeosu City Council Speaker Ju Jae-hyeon, Yeosu Community Social Security Council Chairman Jeong Cheol-seop, GS Caltex Facilities Factory Manager Jin Gi-seop and SHE External Affairs Director Kim Gi-eung, along with representatives from local welfare facilities and volunteers.
Ten members of the GS Caltex employee volunteer corps and the "Hansot-hoe," a retiree association, also joined the gift-wrapping effort, adding to the spirit of the occasion.
The company plans to deliver 934 bags of 20-kilogram white rice — worth about 50 million won — to 128 social welfare facilities in the Yeosu area, and to provide holiday food packages worth around 40 million won to 700 households, including 600 low-income families and 100 North Korean defector households.
Mayor Seo said he was "deeply grateful to GS Caltex for looking after struggling neighbors and sharing the warmth of the holiday season every single year for 22 years without exception," adding that this year's event was especially meaningful as it also included locally caught seafood in support of the successful hosting of the Yeosu World Island Expo.
GS Caltex Facilities Factory Manager Jin Gi-seop said the seafood contribution provided practical help to vulnerable households during the holiday while also boosting consumption of locally produced seafood, strengthening the company's ties with the broader community.
The GS Caltex Chuseok Sharing of Warmth event, launched in 2005, is now in its 22nd consecutive year and stands as one of the most prominent holiday giving initiatives among companies at the industrial complex.
parkds@heraldcorp.com
