Pukyong National University

A heartwarming story about national university students who turn into 'home repairing angels' during vacation

- PKNU social contribution volunteer corps repaired houses on Aug.25~26th, an 18 years ongoing project

△ The students of the PKNU social contribution volunteer corps carrying out house repair activities. ⓒPhoto Lee Sung-Jae (PR team)

Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-Soo) announced that students of the PKNU social contribution volunteer corps visited the underprivileged in the region for two days on August 25th and 26th and provided volunteering service to improve their living environments and support their livelihoods.

During this period, about 30 students belonging to the volunteer group visited three households including basic livelihood recipients, the second-income class in the Nam-gu area of Busan near the campus and provided home repair services such as wallpapering and flooring.

Pukyong National University is carrying out volunteering service to improve residential environments every year during summer and winter vacations to spread the value of sharing and living together with the local community.

The program started in 2006 and has been running for 18 years now, is a volunteer program representing the campus, with a total of nine hundred fifty people participated so far, and the number of households and welfare facilities they have supported in home repairs reaching over a hundred.

This volunteering service is systematic, while students take on the responsibility of transporting furniture and materials, painting, removing damaged wallpaper and broken equipment, and cleaning using young people's passion and tireless stamina, employees from the facility office at Pukyong National University take the lead in tasks that require expertise, such as electrical work.

As this is a volunteer activity targeting the local community, Pukyong National University is strengthening its connection with the local government and receiving cooperation from Nam-gu office in Busan in recommending households that will benefit and collecting garbage bags and waste.

In response to the news of the students' activities, the health clinic and the nursing department in the campus also joined in and visited a senior center near the site of volunteering support to improve the residential environment with students on the 26th to check and consult on the health of the elderly, including blood pressure and blood sugar levels, and provide them with medical supplies and medicine kits. The Nam-gu volunteer center in Busan, which provided medical supplies, even provided necklace-type fans for sweating volunteers and faculty, and the on-campus barber shop also donated its talents and supported volunteering related to barbering and beauty with Pukyong National University students.

Lim Joo-Han (3rd-year student, division of electronics & communications engineering), representative of the volunteering corps, said, "I think I did volunteer work forgetting about the scorching heat in the hope that our neighbors could live in a more comfortable environment. I will continue to volunteer while thinking about what my neighbors need more." <Pukyong Today>

△ Pukyong National University students repairing houses.

△ A medical support volunteering at a senior center near the campus.