Lotte Card supports neighbors

By Yi Whan-woo

Lotte Card has stepped up its community service efforts through its corporate social responsibility program, Love Factory, the company said Tuesday.

The program centers on three areas — sports, art and culture, and donations and volunteerism, according to the credit card service arm of Lotte Group.

It added that the campaign aims to promote its business principle of sharing love for the betterment of society. “The key concepts of Love Factory are love, sharing and sympathy for one another, and these concepts fully reflect our business principle,” the firm said.

According to Lotte Card, it has been sponsoring golfers with developmental disabilities since 2011. Through a welfare center in Sindaebang-dong, Seoul, it provides free golf clubs and other equipment to the athletes, and in 2012, it also set up a golf practice facility for them.

“The athletes, who are extremely talented and perform well in various local and overseas competitions, lack support,” the company said.

Lotte Card also has initiatives for underprivileged youth. It takes orphaned and disabled teenagers at the Angels’ Heaven welfare center in Gunsan-dong, Seoul to various cultural events, such as the Big Pleasure Stage, a concert that runs every month.

The company’s employees, including executive-level officials, support Love Factory by donating part of their monthly salary.

Their donations are used to sponsor middle and high school students at Angels’ Heaven and underprivileged children through Good Neighbors. The employees also donate their time to the program, for example, by teaching teenagers at Angels’ Heaven about finance.

The company also promotes its charitable efforts by encouraging its customers to donate the credit card points they have accumulated, which can be converted into cash, to any of its 10 partner non-governmental organizations such as “Good Neighbors.”