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| Choi Soon-hee, right, with an official after her cash donation at a public welfare center in Namdong-gu, Incheon. Courtesy of Namdong-gu Office. |
By Park Si-soo
Sometimes a dime is more valuable than millions of dollars.
Perhaps the heartwarming donation of Choi Soon-hee is a perfect example.
Choi, 90, ekes out a living in Namdong-gu, Incheon, selling her hand-woven kitchen cleaning sponges for a 1,000 won ($0.82) each. The woman, who was wrestling with declining sales amid the coronavirus pandemic, went to her town's public welfare center on Thursday and carefully handed over a cash-stuffed envelope to an official.
The envelope held 200,000 won ($163).
"This is what I made by selling kitchen cleaning sponges," Choi told the official. "It's small but I hope this will help bring hope to people in trouble due to coronavirus."
Earlier, an anonymous donor gave 500 masks to a public welfare center in Bupyeong, with a memo that read, "Please distribute them to people in need." The center asked the person to reveal their identity but the donor opted to remain anonymous.
Roh Joon-pyo, 11, and his mother also joined the "small but big" donations. They donated 100 masks, 200 latex gloves and 86 bottles of hand sanitizer to another welfare center in Bupyeong.
They bought the products with state subsidies for childcare paid to the mother, and her son's pocket money from his relatives on New Year's Day.
They asked the center to distribute the products to public officials working for the town.
