The seventh annual social contribution campaign hosted by Shinhan Financial Group is nearing an end, with the top financial group focusing most of its donations and volunteer activities to help the victims of the Sewol ferry disaster.

The event, which kicked off in April, is slated to run until Saturday.

“Over the past 50 days, the campaign has incorporated 23 social contribution programs, in which 17,000 people participated,” a Shinhan official said.

The list of participants includes not only the group’s CEOs and executives, but all the employees and their family members.

To kick off the campaign, group chairman Han Dong-woo, together with the CEO’s and board members of all Shinhan-affiliated companies, built eco-friendly furniture and delivered them to socially disadvantaged households.

In other bids to seek coexistence, the group’s key companies ― Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Card, Shinhan Investment and Shinhan Life ― provided helping hands to their twinned agricultural village.

Also, in a bid to preserve traditional culture and promote community spirit, volunteers participated in beautifying cultural properties such as Changgyeonggung Palace and Namhansanseong Fortress.

The protection of the natural environment, too, was one of the keywords of the campaign.

Related activities included cleaning up the Namsan Mountain and Northern Seoul Forest areas, as well as weeding and planting seedlings in other parks and forests.

“We will continue to expand the variety of volunteer activities to meet the needs of the local community,” said an official.

Individual companies also led a respective donation or volunteer campaign to help out the families of the Sewol victims.

Shinhan Bank donated 37 million won ($36,200) to the disaster relief headquarters and 600 volunteers worked at the victims’ memorial altars. Shinhan Card and Shinhan Life, too, donated 11 million won and 31 million won respectively to Hope Bridge, a nationwide disaster relief organization.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)