Icheon City Expands Hometown Love Donation Program Return Gifts to 75 Items

[Suwon Ilbo=Eom In-yong Reporter] Icheon City announced on the 12th that it recently held the '2025 Icheon Hometown Love Donation Program Return Gift Selection Committee' meeting, where it selected nine new suppliers and 14 additional return gift items, and renewed contracts with the existing 25 companies for 61 items.

The return gifts newly selected by Icheon City have expanded to a total of 34 companies and 75 items.

The newly participating suppliers are ▲Peacemonde ▲Joinwinery Co., Ltd. ▲Peacemonde ▲Neulmanna Food Co., Ltd. ▲Shinseong Ceramics ▲Ever Healthcare Co., Ltd. ▲Muel Agricultural Company ▲Food Supply ▲The Bone Food ▲Hatbi Disabled Workers Protection Workshop, and various agricultural and special products, processed foods, ceramics, and social economy products provided by these companies have been added as return gifts.

This provides donors with a richer and more diverse range of choices.

New return gifts include Royal Shake blended with Icheon rice, Seolseong strawberries and Janghowan peaches, Joinwine made with Baeksamyeon blueberries and aronia, high-quality Icheon ceramics, a planned set of nurungjis and misutgaru made from Icheon rice, and perilla oil made from 100% domestic perilla seeds through cold-pressing.

Additionally, ready-made meal kits such as Onhaeon instant soups tailored for single-person households and Nurungjis sandwiches utilizing Icheon rice have attracted attention, and dried shiitake mushrooms directly cultivated and processed by Hatbi Disabled Workers Protection Workshop under Seungga won have been evaluated as products with added social value that well align with the purpose of the Hometown Love Donation Program.

Along with this, Poggi kimchi and Chonggak kimchi, which donors consistently prefer, are also included as return gifts, and are expected to further enhance satisfaction for donors seeking traditional tastes.

Kim Dong-ho, the city's spokesperson, said "The city listened to voices from the field through a meeting with return gift suppliers this year and improved inconveniences, and we have intensively discussed quality management, shipping issues, and marketing enhancement measures to reorganize the operational system" and added "Through various activities such as promotions using the city hall media board, donation events hosted by Choo Hyuk-jin fan club, and expanded homepage registration, we have also made efforts to vitalize the Hometown Love Donation Program."

Meanwhile, the Hometown Love Donation Program is a system that allows individuals to donate up to 20 million won per year to local governments other than their registered address through Hometown Love e-um or NH Nonghyup Bank counters. Donors receive tax deductions and return gifts such as local specialties or experiential products worth up to 30% of their donation amount.

Mayor Kim Gyung-hee stated "The additional selection of return gifts this time allows us to provide donors with a richer range of choices, and it is especially meaningful as items that reflect Icheon's characteristics, including agricultural products, ceramics, and social economy enterprise products, are included" and added "Going forward, we will enhance donor satisfaction through Icheon's differentiated return gifts and contribute to local economic vitalization."