KT&G (CEO Bokin Baek) has provided a total of KRW 300 million worth of lunches to national welfare institutions through the 'Imagination Sharing' program to help small businesses and vulnerable groups who are struggling due to the COVID-19 crisis, which has persisted for the long term.

The 'Imagination Sharing' program is a social contribution activity conducted by 19 KT&G organizations across the country to help small business owners who have recently taken a financial blow and disadvantaged people who are facing hardship as a result of free food services operations being reduced as a result of social distancing. The lunch boxes, which are purchased from local markets, are delivered to each local welfare institution to help both small business owners and vulnerable groups. KT&G has been conducting lunch delivery activities nationwide, starting with the Gyeongnam Headquarters and Cheonan Plant on the April 23, and the total number of beneficiaries to date is 12,000.

The costs required to provide the lunches was prepared in full through the “Imagination Fund”, to which voluntary donations were made by KT&G employees. The “Imagination Fund” is KT&G's own unique social contribution fund that was launched in 2011. If employees voluntarily donate a portion of their monthly salary, the company matches the amount in contribution to the fund. The fund is used to support the disadvantaged groups at home and abroad and to solve urgent social problems.

Meanwhile, KT&G is also active providing support to overcome the COVID-19 crisis through support projects conducted by the KT&G Welfare Foundation and through in-house campaigns. Since 2004, the KT&G Welfare Foundation has been conducting lunch delivery projects for the elderly living alone, and from April 14, the company added hygiene products, vitamins, and convenient side dishes to lunch boxes to strengthen support for the elderly who are vulnerable to COVID-19 infection.

In addition, KT&G started to promote the local economy and support farm households through its in-house 'Shik-Gu' ('Food-Buy') campaign from April 23. ‘Shik-Gu' comprises the sino-Korean characters 'Shik (食)', meaning 'to eat' and 'Gu (購), meaning 'to buy', ultimately denoting the company’s resolve to overcome the COVID-19 crisis. The company purchases lunchboxes from local traditional markets and provides them to employees for their lunch, and the company also promotes and sells agricultural products to employees in connection with local farmers.

The Head of Social Contribution at KT&G, Gyeongdong Kim, said, “We are working company-wide to overcome the national crisis caused by COVID-19, and we will continue to actively work on solving social problems in the future.”

KT&G (CEO Bokin Baek) has provided a total of KRW 300 million worth of lunches to national welfare institutions through the 'Imagination Sharing' program to help small businesses and vulnerable groups who are struggling due to the COVID-19 crisis, which has persisted for the long term. This photo shows the employees of the plant located in Sintanjin-dong taking pictures to commemorate the delivery of the lunches.

 KT&G (CEO Bokin Baek) has provided a total of KRW 300 million worth of lunches to national welfare institutions through the 'Imagination Sharing' program to help small businesses and vulnerable groups who are struggling due to the COVID-19 crisis, which has persisted for the long term. This photo shows employees at the plant in Shintanjin-dong visiting marginalized neighbors to deliver lunch boxes.

 KT&G (CEO Bokin Baek) has been supporting the local economy and farm households through the 'Shik-Gu' campaign since April 23. This photo shows KT&G headquarter employees serving lunch boxes purchased at a traditional market to employees for lunch.