LG Electronics volunteers make songpyeon with people with disabilities ahead of chuseok

LG Electronics employees visited a welfare facility for people with disabilities ahead of chuseok, making songpyeon rice cakes and joining in other holiday preparations.

The company announced Thursday that its Life's Good volunteer corps — formed through voluntary employee participation — visited the Yeomni Disability Day Care Center in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday to carry out chuseok-themed volunteer activities.

Volunteers joined center users in making songpyeon and frying jeon pancakes to prepare traditional holiday food. They also presented pre-made rice cakes as gifts and played traditional games including yutnori.

The Yeomni Disability Day Care Center is a welfare facility for people with severe brain lesion disabilities, operated under the Korean Social Welfare Society. The Life's Good volunteer corps has partnered with the society since 2014 to carry out volunteer work for vulnerable groups.

Funding for this round of activities came from donations accumulated through a "giving menu" program at LG Electronics employee cafeterias.

Under the program, employees can choose a meal with fewer banchan, "side dishes," than the standard option, with the cost savings set aside as donations. Since its introduction in 2011, the program has accumulated about 300 million won ($222,000) in total donations.

LG Electronics also operates a volunteer leave policy that allows employees up to eight hours of paid weekday leave per year for volunteer activities.

Since the policy took effect in 2013, employees have logged more than 40,000 cumulative hours of volunteer leave.

The Life's Good volunteer corps conducted volunteer activities for children and teenagers with severe disabilities at the Seoul Amsa Rehabilitation Center in April, and this month visited an education center in Yangon, Myanmar, to support improvements to the learning environment for local youth.