'YU Volunteer Day' proclaimed on 68th anniversary of school, vow to practice every year
First year, facelift for the Gyeongsan Heungsan 1-2 ri Sister Village
YU president, students and faculty for a total of over 700 takes part in talent sharing
Practicing leadership of ‘coexistence’, ‘serving’ and ‘consideration’
[2015-5-15]
“This quiet rural town has become much brighter with so many college students visiting. I hope that our town will develop through our ties with YU.”
Kim Young-jin (67), the village foreman of Heungsan 1-ri, greeted the 500 YU students who visited the town with thanks. A total of 700 people including YU President Noh Seok-kyun, 500 YU students, faculty, public officials of Gyeongsan, and community volunteers for a total of over 700 people came to this town to provide volunteer services on the ‘YU Volunteer Day’ on May 15.
YU (President Noh Seok-kyun) proclaimed the ‘YU Volunteer Day’ in light of the 68th anniversary of the school to carry out large-scale volunteer work. YU designated May 15 as the ‘Volunteer Day’ and is planning to carry out regular joint volunteer work every year together with the city of Gyeongsan. As part of this, this year they carried out the ‘YU-Ilchon Village Facelift’.
On the 15th, YU made ‘sisterhood’ ties with Heungsan 1 and 2-ri of Namcheon-myeon, Gyeongsan to carry out town decorating and talent-sharing activities. The 700 plus volunteers who gathered on this day engaged in massive volunteer activities fom 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
20 students from ‘Yeongjihoe’, YU’s home repair volunteer club, helped make pleasant residential environments by redoing the walls and floors for five homes in Heungsan-ri, while the photo club ‘Sawoohoe’ offered ‘long-life photo-taking’, and art majors helped paint the town walls. Thus, YU students all took the initiative to volunteer using their majors and talents.
Kwon So-yeon (19, freshmen Humanities and Sociology major), who took part in the wall and flooring volunteer activity, said, “I have always been interested in volunteer activities, so I joined a volunteer school as soon as I was admitted to the university and have been participating continuously in volunteer work,” and added, “It was much more fun and fulfilling by participating in volunteer work with other students from my school. I hope that with the ‘YU Volunteer Day’ more students will be able to experience the joy of volunteering.”
In particular, students of the YU Department of Cultural Anthropology are planning to visit local elders and government offices to produce and distribute a ‘town journal’ containing the origin, history and culture of Heungsan-ri. In addition, the YU Medical School also participated offering free health examinations for town residents and received good responses from residents. On one side of the town, the ‘Jangsan Pungmuldan’ under the Gyeongsan Jungban Farm Music Preservation Association performed in a traditional pungmul concert to entertain the local elders. Meanwhile, a ‘food truck’ was operated at the Gyeongsan Senior Welfare Center and the Daegu Lunch Volunteer Association and volunteers served noodles to the local residents. Thus, in addition to YU students and faculty, volunteers from the Daegu and Gyeongbuk area, as well as community members participated in the volunteer activities of the YU Volunteer Day.
It is very rare for a university to designate a Volunteer Day and engage in massive talent-sharing volunteer activities together with the local government, welfare organizations and residents.
YU President Noh Seok-kyun stated, “We designated the Volunteer Day to complete the university’s social responsibilities for mutual growth and development together with the local society and to foster human resources who practice leadership of serving and consideration,” while adding, “We hope that the ‘YU Volunteer Day’ will be established as a volunteer event that represents the local society in the future.
Meanwhile, at 3 p.m., YU will hold a declaration ceremony for the Volunteer Day at Heungsan 1-ri at 3 p.m. and also hold a ceremony for raising a sister village sign board. Starting with this event, YU will designated every third week of May as the ‘Volunteer Week’ from next year to expand opportunities to share and practice volunteering.
