The Ministry of the Interior and Safety's Government Building Management Headquarters noted on the 13th that it will donate a total of 115 bicycles that have been abandoned for a long time within the Government Daejeon Complex to the Daejeon Seo-gu Community Self-Support Center to assist low-income self-support projects.
The Daejeon Seo-gu Community Self-Support Center supports the only bicycle-related self-support corporation in the Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungnam regions, called the "Happy Bicycle Cooperative." This corporation converts abandoned bicycles into refurbished bikes through parts replacement and generates revenue by selling them. In this process, it provides related jobs to assist low-income families and vulnerable groups in achieving self-sufficiency.
The bicycles donated this time will be repaired and maintained by the cooperative before being donated again to low-income families and social welfare facilities. Some will be sold at affordable prices, and the revenue generated from the sale of leftover scrap will be used to establish a foundation for self-supporting corporations.
The Government Daejeon Complex has not been able to find owners for about 50 bicycles each year due to reasons such as relocations following personnel appointments, and when a certain amount (around 100) of abandoned bicycles are collected, they are donated to the Daejeon Seo-gu Community Self-Support Center. After regularly announcing the 'abandoned bicycle collection notice' each year, bicycles left unclaimed for over a month are stored separately, and in 2021, 60 abandoned bicycles were donated.