GS Caltex committed to social contribution
Children who received mental-health treatment sponsored by GS Caltex perform at Yeulmaru, a multi-functional cultural center that the company built in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province. The oil refiner provides a variety of social contribution programs to help underprivileged children, senior citizens, disabled people and culturally deprived communities. / Courtesy of GS Caltex
By Park Si-soo
GS Caltex is pushing a range of social contribution programs with a strong sense of duty and commitment, believing they will help make Korea a better place to live.
The nation’s second largest oil refiner’s activities focus on underprivileged children, senior citizens, the disabled and culturally deprived people.
The company is making these contributions along with its employees’ support, helping fund facilities that help improve the quality of life of the people in their region.
Since 2013, GS Caltex has been running the “Maeum Toktok” program, which provides psychological therapy through art, acting and dancing for children who have suffered from domestic and school violence. So far, more than 7,400 children have been through the program.
The company joined hands with the Ministry of Education this year to open new schools and centers to provide more art therapy sessions for more children.
It has awarded scholarships to academically talented students in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, the site of its main plant. The company has also hired native English teachers to provide a better environment for studying English for children living on remote islands.
The oil refiner has also committed itself to quenching the cultural thirst of people living in less developed areas.
It spent 110 billion won building a giant cultural center in Yeosu. Named Yeulmaru, the facility opened to the public in 2012, enabling people in the industrial city to enjoy a variety of top-level performances and exhibitions that were otherwise available only in Seoul and other urban areas. The center has two theaters equipped with state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems. They are respectively capable of accommodating up to 300 and 1,000 people.
Other social contributions include free lunches for needy senior citizens in Yeosu on weekdays, and year-end donations for destitute and ailing people.
“We will continue to expand our social contribution, believing that through our small efforts, the world can become a better place for the people we can help,” said a GS Caltex spokesman.