Pilot program to serve meals five days a week at 15 senior centers

Mapo-gu District Mayor Yoo Dong-gyun. [Mapo-gu]
Mapo-gu District Mayor Yoo Dong-gyun. [Mapo-gu]

Mapo-gu announced Tuesday it will launch a pilot program this month to deliver soup and banchan, or side dishes, prepared at a public factory directly to senior centers — the first initiative of its kind in the country.

The district has been running its "Eoreushin Bapsang" senior meal program through a network of religious and public facilities under what it calls the "Mapo-style public senior meal system." At the factory, nutritionists design menus tailored to the dietary needs and eating convenience of older adults, overseeing everything from ingredient inspection to cooking, packaging and delivery.

The new pilot extends that supply chain to senior centers, allowing elderly residents to have meals at the centers they already frequent. The expansion also marks a shift away from reliance on private donations, replacing that model with stable public funding.

The district plans to run the pilot through December, then scale the program to 100 senior centers serving an average of 2,000 people a day starting in 2027.

The senior meal program traces its roots to the "Hyodo Bapsang," or filial piety meal, initiative launched during the eighth elected-term administration and has continued as a flagship senior welfare policy into the ninth term.

"The system of supplying soup and banchan produced directly at our factory to senior centers is a new model being tried for the first time anywhere in the country," Mapo-gu District Mayor Yoo Dong-gyun said.


ikson@heraldcorp.com