Hwaseong City Expands Infinite Care Service

The Hwaseong City Infinite Care Center signed a memorandum of understanding last weekend with the Hwaseong City Tong-ri Leaders Association and Hwaseong City Saemaul Women's Association to serve as volunteer groups for the Infinite Care service.

This follows a similar agreement signed with the religious community on the 10th (Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism District 2 Yongju Temple, Hwaseong Christian Federation, and the Hwaseong District of the Catholic Diocese of Suwon), marking the second such partnership.

Through this memorandum of understanding, in which heads of tong and ri (administrative units) and women's association leaders will serve as Infinite Care volunteers, the Hwaseong City Infinite Care Service is expected to expand indefinitely.

The Infinite Care volunteer groups from the Hwaseong City Tong-ri Leaders Association and Saemaul Women's Association will henceforth identify crisis-stricken families in welfare blind spots and refer them to the city, while also serving as guardians for elderly living alone and low-income households and providing volunteer support as private welfare resources.

Chae In-suk, Mayor of Hwaseong City, expressed gratitude, saying, "At a time when support for crisis-stricken families in welfare blind spots is more necessary than ever, the participation of the Tong-ri Leaders Association and Saemaul Women's Association—who are closest to residents compared to any other civic organization—in the Infinite Care Service will be a tremendous strength in building a tight-knit social safety net."

Meanwhile, alongside the memorandum of understanding ceremony, the appointment of new operating committee members for the Infinite Care Center and a report on the 2011 major business promotion plan were also conducted.

The operating committee, previously composed of four ex officio members and eleven appointed members for a total of fifteen, was expanded and reorganized to eighteen members with the appointment of three new members.

The three newly appointed operating committee members are Kim Hong-sung, councilor from the Hwaseong City Council (citizen representative), Lee Jong-gil, Director of Narae-ul Comprehensive Welfare Town (network team), and Kim Young-mi, Director of the Hwaseong City Youth Support Center (children and youth sector).

During the operating committee meeting, reports were given on the 2010 operational results of the Infinite Care Center and on the 2011 major business plans of the center.

The center reported that in 2010, through case management of a total of 355 households, it achieved 1,338 service referrals and secured approximately 55 million won in project funds through external public solicitation. For 2011, the center stated it would focus on strengthening capacity and actively identifying crisis households through active case management via monthly regular meetings of regional network teams, strengthening expertise of case managers through formalization of monthly case report meetings, and other initiatives.


The Hwaseong City Infinite Care Center opened in April 2010 and currently operates under a single center with three teams, running the Central Center (031-369-4861~4864) along with the East Network Team, West Network Team, and South Network Team. As of March, the center has identified and supported a total of 416 crisis households in the region.