Launched last December, the program has served more than 10,000 people — providing food first, then connecting recipients to welfare services through counseling
A South Chungcheong Province program that provides food and daily necessities to struggling residents without income screening or advance applications is establishing itself as a community-based welfare safety net.
According to the province, the program launched in Gyeryong last December as a pilot, initially covering Cheonan, Nonsan and Taean. It has since expanded to 11 cities and counties after Gongju, Boryeong, Asan, Geumsan and Hongseong joined in May and Buyeo and Seocheon came on board in August.
A total of 10,443 residents used the service during that period, the province said. Of those, 1,342 received basic counseling during a second visit or follow-up contact.
Among them, 259 people were assessed as needing welfare referrals and were connected to services including basic livelihood support, near-poverty assistance, emergency welfare aid and other public and private welfare programs.
The program is designed for residents who face financial hardship due to sudden job loss, falling income or high living costs but do not qualify under existing welfare criteria or are reluctant to seek help. They can visit a nearby food bank or food market and receive food and daily necessities without undergoing income or asset checks or filing any prior application.
Operating on a "support first, counsel later" model, the program lowers the psychological barrier for those in need. Rather than stopping at food provision, it actively identifies households in crisis and connects them to the welfare services they require.
Each participating city and county has also developed its own delivery model suited to local conditions. Cheonan runs a mobile service alongside a community sharing refrigerator, while Nonsan delivers care packages directly to residents with limited mobility.
Taean operates a mobile service to improve access for residents in hard-to-reach areas, and Asan uses four community welfare centers as hub locations. Such locally tailored operating models are spreading across the province.
Building on these results, the province plans to extend the program to all remaining cities and counties — Seosan, Dangjin, Cheongyang and Yesan — this month, and will add one more distribution point in Cheonan to improve accessibility.
The province intends to develop the program into what it calls "the first gateway to welfare" — a means of identifying residents who need help rather than simply a food aid initiative. By using food support as an entry point to assess residents' living conditions, officials plan to quickly connect those with greater needs to public and private welfare services, reducing gaps in the welfare system.
The province also plans to gradually develop a "South Chungcheong model" that reflects the region's distinct characteristics, including its rural, fishing and island communities.
"The significance of this program lies in the fact that residents in difficult circumstances can receive help first, without worrying about complicated procedures or the judgment of others," a provincial official said. "The 10,443 users show just how many people around us are struggling with their daily lives, and at the same time signal that a new point of contact has been created to bring them into the welfare system."
"We will expand the program to every city and county so that residents can get help nearby whenever they need it, wherever they live," the official added. "We will build a tight-knit daily safety net that runs from food support all the way through to counseling and welfare service connections."
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
