Growing older is not simply a decline — it is a form of growth.
We wish to help our elders grow more beautifully still.
That our mothers and fathers fall ill and grow frail is not the same as saying they are “of no use”.
We want to say this clearly, to families and to our elders alike:
we will stay beside you and watch over you to the very end.
We hold you in deep respect — for the care you give your parents.
We are grateful — for the smiles our elders offer us.
Even if death ends a life, it cannot end a relationship.
We will serve, always, with sincerity and filial devotion.
With palms joined — Ven. Beopwon, Representative Director, Uideokwon Social Welfare Foundation
A German proverb says, “One father can raise ten sons, but ten sons cannot support one father.” It tells us how difficult it truly is to honour and care for our parents.
Korea is ageing and its birth rate is falling faster than almost anywhere else in the world.
And so we have entered an era in which the parents who need care keep increasing while the children who must provide it grow fewer. As the old saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child” — the time has come for the community to step forward in caring for our parents as well. From this perspective, community care deserves our serious thought.
Gyeryong Hyo Center therefore looks to the strengths of this region and asks: what kind of care would our elders truly want? On behalf of some seventy staff members, we carry that responsibility seriously and will give our best to care offered with a sincere heart. Thank you.
Gyeryong Hyo Center
Kim Yeon-sook, Director, Gyeryong Hyo Home-Care Center for the Elderly