Support of Disaster Recovery in Thailand
In February 2018, Korean Re sent a group of volunteers to Thailand to help rebuild a typhoon-hit community. Comprised of 18 Korean Re employees, including 15 new hires and two officials of Habitat for Humanity Korea, the volunteer team visited Ayutthaya, Thailand on February 5. Over a five-day period, they participated in a house-building project for a local village. Some of the activities included mixing concrete and laying bricks for internal and external walls of houses.
For the past five years, we have implemented an international corporate volunteering program to support the rehabilitation of communities devastated by natural disasters. Losses from natural catastrophes can have a devastating impact on individuals and businesses, and the (re)insurance industry helps them get back on their feet in the aftermath of a disaster. The first-hand experiences of being a part of the disaster relief effort allow our young employees to learn how essential function reinsurance can perform on communities as part of a social safety net.
Our overseas volunteering program is designed particularly for our new employees to give them the opportunity to have fully immersive experiences of volunteering for disaster relief activities. It helps them become more motivated, engaged and inspired as they start a new career at Korean Re. Social responsibility activities are not only about what we do for society but about encouraging a positive work atmosphere and healthy corporate culture.
Participation in MMC Charity Walk & Jog for Children with Cancer for 2018
Korean Re was invited to participate in the Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) Charity Walk & Jog for Children with Cancer for 2018, a charity event organized by Marsh Singapore on May 17.
Employees from our Singapore branch joined the event to support its cause. This charity initiative was part of MMC’s corporate social responsibility efforts to give back to the community that they work in. It was sponsored by 26 reinsurers, including Korean Re.
We were pleased to sponsor the event as part of our social responsibility commitment to the community we serve. The event was held successfully, attracting 1,200 individual attendees from the reinsurance industry and members of MMC. Fay Cho, one of the participants from Korean Re, said, “Starting from Marina Barrage, we jogged all the way to Marina Bay. It was an exciting event where we could walk and enjoy the beautiful views of the areas along the course and network with people from our industry outside of the formal work settings.”
Dedication Ceremony for Housing Repair Project
A dedication ceremony was held on October 24, 2018 to recognize Korean Re’s contribution to a home repair and neighborhood revitalization project for Jeogok Village in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. The ceremony served as an opportunity to look back on how much improvement has been made over the past three years to the village in terms of housing conditions. It was also designed to raise awareness of the value of the home repair project, which aims to help people with poor housing conditions renew their homes and neighborhoods. It was attended by around 70 persons, including villagers, representatives from Korean Re and Habitat for Humanity Korea, and officials from the Cheongju city government.
We first engaged in the project in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity Korea in 2016 to support home repairs and improvements for the village where there were many decrepit houses aged 30 years or older. Located 17 kilometers away from downtown Cheongju, the village is home to 48 families and 114 residents.
Over the past three years, a total of 233 employees of Korean Re have participated in the repair of 42 old houses, which translated into 14,000 hours of volunteering work. We also donated funds worth KRW 390 million. Korean Re CEO Jong Gyu Won said during the ceremony, “I feel very proud to see this village improve and become a better place to live in. We at Korean Re will remain committed to fulfilling our social responsibility through various programs.”
Initiatives to Support Low-Income Families
From October to November 2018, we organized four rounds of community food-sharing events at a local Red Cross volunteer center, where groups of Korean Re employees cooked food and baked bread. The food was packed and then delivered to those in need, including elderly people living alone and low-income families. A total of 50 families received the food package.
Meanwhile, we increased our donation to the community we sponsor regularly. On December 12, CEO Won and a group of 20 Korean Re employees visited Iwhadong – an inner city town in the neighborhood of the Korean Re head office in Jongno District, Seoul, and donated KRW 70 million worth of rice, food products and other necessities to financially difficult households in the community. Some of the packages were personally delivered door to door by Korean Re volunteers. We also visited a child support center in the community and provided supplies to children from low-income families. This annual giving initiative has continued since 2004, when Korean Re agreed to become a regular sponsor of the town. Through the donation program, we provide support to the less privileged in the community once every year.
We will continue to organize corporate volunteering and giving programs as we firmly uphold the value of giving back to the community where we do business. We believe that our company can benefit from such programs, as they help our employees improve their team-building skills, leading to increased morale and productivity.