POSCO's charity foundation marks 10th anniversary

POSCO Group's charity campaign celebrated its 10th year with Chairman Choi Jeong-woo, executives and representatives of donors and partners earlier this month, according to the country's leading steelmaker, Wednesday.

POSCO 1% Foundation, the conglomerate's charity, saw 22 guests joining the event at POSCO Center in Seoul, Nov. 8. At the gathering, the foundation declared further broadening of its services for those with financial poverty, children of multicultural families and those leaving orphanages to live on their own in inadequate conditions.

Since 2013, the foundation has collected almost 90 billion won ($69 million) from 35,000 donors and shared it with over 303,000 people. Until now, it stands as the country's biggest non-profit charity foundation joined by executives and employees of a private firm.

"One of our businesses, My Little Charity, allows our participating executives and employees to select certain entities they personally had in mind to help out and we register them as our charity targets," said an official from the group. "Such initiative has impassioned our colleagues' interests in social contributions."

The conglomerate's philanthropic activities range from building common halls for vulnerable groups to providing special devices for people with disability and supporting young adults in finding jobs. The foundation's POSCO Steel Village project has been erecting welfare facilities for seniors and physically disabled people for free in Pohang, Gwangyang, Incheon and Seoul with "the world's warmest steels."

Each year the foundation seeks some 2,600 orphans aged 18 to 27 who were forced to leave their orphanage facilities in accordance with laws and are pressured to find jobs and new homes on their own. Since 2020, the foundation has also helped over 150 patriots with permanent injuries with robotic limbs, wheelchairs visual aids and hearing aids.