On December 15, Gangdong-gu will hold the 'Hope Tree & Santa Expedition Delivery Ceremony', which is a campaign for realizing the Christmas hopes of children, with the Southern Seoul Office of ChildFund Korea (ChildFund hereinafter).

The main content of the campaign includes:

1. Realizing Christmas wishes through Santa expedition presents:

supporting funds (40 million won) to share wish cards and purchase goods to realize the Christmas wishes of 73 children in 5 institutes of Gangdong-gu including child care centers, community centers, etc. 2.

Delivering warm winter present kits:

delivering warm winter kit presents (11 items including vitamins, Bluetooth speakers, electronic mini heaters, scarves, hats, etc., 60 million won-approximately 20,000 won per person) to the addresses of 300 children, brothers and sisters of Gangdong-gu according to their age. For this project, Gangdong-gu has installed a Hope Tree (refer to image below) in front of the cafe located in the 2nd Building of the Gangdong-gu Office and will hold a delivery ceremony.

The 3 institutes including Gangdong-gu Office, headquarters of ChildFund Korea (Chief Director: Choi Cheol-woo) and the Gangdong-gu Child Welfare Center Association (President: Lee Eun-yeong) concluded an agreement last month (Nov. 10) for constructing a business cooperation system for this project to ensure the healthy growth of children who reside in Gangdong-gu.

The agreement consisted of: 1. Gangdong-gu: Construction of a private/public cooperation system and mutual cooperation for the promotion of children's welfare 2. ChildFund Korea: Support of budget and funds for supporting children of low-income households 3. Gangdong-gu Child Welfare Center Association: Search for children in low-income households and provision of integrated welfare services.

Each year, the Gangdong-gu Child Welfare Center Association holds the Hope Tree Festival, but there are difficulties in holding the festival through regional resource connection. This year's festival (Nov. 22) has received sponsorship from Child Fund Korea by requesting 10 million won (scholarship: 4 million won, presents: 5 million won, plaques of appreciation: 800,000 won), and the association will make efforts to sustain the project.

A Gangdong-gu official said, "We are pleased to cooperate with ChildFund Korea and Gangdong-gu Child Welfare Center Association for the promotion of child welfare. We will continuously make efforts to become a district with happy children through the 'Hope Tree & Santa Expedition Delivery Ceremony Campaign', which realizes the wishes of children and provides presents to ensure a warm winter."

The Gangdong-gu Dream Start Project has been carried out since 2013 for the healthy growth and development of children in socially vulnerable groups. The district is currently working on projects for body/health, cognition/language, emotion/behavior and family/parents that are necessary for child development.

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