
Article
Home/Article/Changhua Big Love Long-Term Care Service Association Foster An Intergenerational Harmony in the "Hometown of Weavers"

Changhua Big Love Long-Term Care Service Association Foster An Intergenerational Harmony in the "Hometown of Weavers"



In August 2000, Mr. Chen Guo-dong, a young person returning to his hometown, founded the Big Love Care Service Group in Changhua City (The Group includes the Big Love Long-term Care Service Association). He is expected to replicate the successful long-term care models for the elderly and expand the models into the central Taiwan market.
Over the past 25 years, the Big Love Care Service Group has flourished and expanded its service concepts to Taichung, Changhua, and Yunlin, providing a one-step service from daycare to long-term care and talent training. During this period, Mr. Chen Guo-dong and his wife, Lin Xiu-ru, further thought about what the solutions for sustainable operation are in the face of rapid aging and workforce decline.
Confirming to Develop Long-Term Care Service: Intergenerational Harmony
The team's goal is to delay the aging impact, such as dementia and physical decline, enabling the elderly to enjoy fulfilling and dignified golden years through diverse forms of social engagement. With this concept, a long-term care foundation should return to "education." It should not only build a support system between two generations but also extend to the family networks of children and grandchildren to create a cross-generational ecosystem of youth and seniors.
Typically, the first step in a regional revitalization strategy is identifying the unique DNA of a locality to drive economic revitalization. According to the Group CEO, Ms. Lin Xiu-ru, the textile industry is the defining hallmark of Changhua. Hemei Township was once the largest textile hub in Taiwan, immortalized in the local lyrics: "Hemei people weave; even a goddess envies."
"Almost every household here (Hemei) ties to the textile industry—whether as owners, workers, or part of the supply chain; therefore, Hemei is identified as the "Hometown of Weavers," Ms. Lin explained. "The benefit of having a clear identification of the Township is it made people easier to reconnect with experiences and memories of the past."
Overcoming the Tough Operational and Team Challenges
In 2022, under the encouragement of the Taichung-Changhua-Nantou Regional Branch of the Workforce Development Agency, the Ministry of Labor, the Big Love
Long-Term Care Service Association team established Hemei Police Chief Dormitory, which is different from a normal long-term care organization. In the meantime, the Association team applied for the 3-year Social Type Multi-Employment Promotion Program.
It gained 6 staff members subsidies, including professional manager Li You-cheng, responsible for planning and sales. The other 5 staff members handle store operations, activity guiding, and course teaching.
Ms. Lin Xiu-re admitted that she was overly optimistic, resulting in higher costs in activity execution and team integration. Taking Hemei Police Chief Dormitory as an example, it introduced a kimono experience during the post-pandemic "Fake Travel" trend. The service only charged NT399 and included professional hairstyling, dressing, and commemorative photography. The service was initially popular; however, the demand soon plummeted once the travel restriction was lifted.
Through iterative evaluations, the team reached a consensus: Kimono is a Japanese tradition and doesn't align with Hemei's identity as an important "Textile Hub." Therefore, they pivoted to a new, locally inspired brand project—Ho-Bi TSIT-A. In this project, the 5 staff members dressed as "Weavers," leveraging their craftsmanship to promote the local textile aesthetics and produce customized cultural products.
This transformation left a deep impression on the 30-year-old professional manager, Mr. Li You-cheng, who learned valuable management skills from the challenges. Despite being a native of Hemei, Mr. Li lacked social experience at a younger age, so he spent more time reaching a consensus on the products quality with the other 5 staff members who were senior in the textile industry for the first time.
Mr. Li shared a specific instance where the team received a custom order for 400 tissue covers. After completing the first batch of 100, an inspection revealed a 90% defect rate. "Such as the Velcro that couldn't adhere and untrimmed threads, making the products unfit for delivery." We had no choice but to ask the client for an extension while communicating with the staff. Ultimately, Mr. Li set aside his managerial title, humbly appealing to those "big sisters" as a junior team member to redo the entire batch.
Painting Competition and Wine Tasting Party to Attract Family Guests
The first year was learning from doing and filled with challenges. However, the Big Love team members quickly refined their product strategies, focusing on physical activities that encourage "family sharing." For instance, they held the first "Hemei Police Chief Dormitory-Painting Competition" in March 2024. The team invited elementary and junior high school students to explore and capture the beauty of this historic building, which is over 100 years old and once served as a police officer dispatch station, through their artistic expressions.
In June, during this Dragon Boat Festival long weekend, the Big Love team upgraded their event model to broaden the appeal by experimenting with their first "Adult's Taste Tipsy Party." Ms. Lin explained that to align with the activity goal of intergenerational appeal, they designed the event as a market-style gathering, inviting 10 to 15 local vendors selling snacks and children's toys to set up booths.
However, if the event theme only focuses on "related night markets," it seems insufficient to attract more guests. To boost the attraction, the team also organized a wine tasting and beer drinking contest. For the former, they sourced sparkling wine from a renowned winery, Wu-Feng Farmer's Association Distillery, from Taichung and sold the wine at an economical price of NT$150 per bottle. For the latter, participants could join the contest with an affordable NT$150 registration fee.
In addition to these events, Big Love Care Service Group has devoted itself to training individuals with disabilities to develop practical skills. By late 2023, they established the "Linnei Small-Scale Community Workshop" in Yunlin County, focusing on handmade organic crayons. Ms. Lin emphasized that upcycling waste materials is the key principle in selecting their products. They chose crayons to step away from the conventional offerings like handmade soap or pineapple cakes. "For this, we consulted Assistant Professor Xiao Yuan-zhi from the Department of Medicinal Botanicals and Foods on Health Applications at Da-Yeh University in Yilan."
"The goal of long-term care service is to provide holistic care for body, mind, and soul. But our vision goes beyond enabling the elderly to live with dignity." Ms. Lin Xiu-ru emphasized, "We aim to maximize health and happiness throughout life by emphasizing education." Starting from the professional long-term care, Big Love Long-Term Care Service Association has leveraged the group's extensive and diverse resources in manpower, digital tools, and logistics to build a robust platform that fosters intergenerational harmony and shared prosperity.
The Official Website of Changhua County Big Love Long-Term Care Service Association
Mr. Li You-cheng: Gaining Curating Experience from a Dream Job
Graduating with an MSc. in Commercial Design at National Taichung University of Science and Technology, Mr. Li pursued his passion for culture and historical architecture by seeking a dream job in the field. The restoration of an old police station, once hidden behind the metal corrugated walls during his childhood, became his catalyst to devote himself to the cultural and creative industries. So far, the three years of the "Multi-Employment Promotion and Empowering Program" has entered the two-thirds year, Mr. Li has gained career wisdom through practical and regional revitalization experience. "I hope my future work can make a meaningful contribution to Hemei Town." (Photo by Lin Ying-cheng)

▲The Big Love Long-Term Care Service Association has transitioned from weaving, after a period of team adjustment, now it operates smoothly. (Photo by Lin Ying-cheng)
▲The Association introduced various market events from Halloween to Christmas markets which attracts numerous young families to participate.

▲ Ms. Lin Xiu-ru, the CEO of Big Love Care Service Group, has introduced numerous market events to attract young families. (Photo by Lin Ying-cheng)
Case Story: Multi-Employment Promotion Program
Interviewee: Changhua County Big Love Long-Term Care Service Association
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Please attribute this article to “Workforce Development Agency, Ministry of Labor.”