The KKOOM Quarterly

Winter 2010

Please visit us at: http://www.kkoom.org

In this issue…

~ Holiday Events Recapped

~ Thank you to all our donors!

Korean Kids &

Orphanage Outreach

Mission

Dear KKOOM supporters,

On behalf of the KKOOM board, I would like to sincerely wish you all a very happy new year! I

hope that the coming year brings an abundance of contentment for you and your loved ones.

We are very excited about what 2010 holds for KKOOM, and, as always, we are extremely

grateful for your continued support and interest.

This past December was a busy one, both for KKOOM and for me individually. KKOOM

sponsored the third annual holiday party at Samsungwon in Gumi on December 12-13, 2009.

From the snippets that I’ve heard, this was the best party so far, with fun hands-on activities,

great food, and real relationships being forged between our amazing volunteers and the adorable

children at Samsungwon. We were also delighted to have the opportunity to support another

Christmas party being thrown by English-teacher volunteers at Sam Dong Boys Town

Orphanage in Seoul. Gift cards were passed out to the children during their party on December 13, 2009.

As for me, during the last two weeks of December I paid a visit to South Korea for the first time

since my Fulbright grant year which concluded a year and a half ago. I had a great time seeing

relatives, catching up with former students, and eating delicious food. I was also able to conduct

some KKOOM business while abroad. Through your donations, KKOOM procured a high

quality electric guitar for the children of Saegam Maeul in Deoksan. The children will be forming

a band and taking lessons from an orphanage employee who knows how to play. Saegam Maeul

also received a large box full of warm socks per their request. On December 30, I returned to

Sungnam Orphanage in Seosan where I volunteered during my time in Korea in order to do a

gingerbread house making activity with the elementary school kids. It was the first time they had

seen gingerbread houses in person. Although a few groups (mostly the groups composed of

boys, I’m afraid) managed to consume most of the decorative candies before they finished

assembling their houses, in the end the final products were all creative, unique, and promptly

eaten. KKOOM also donated 60 beautiful photo albums to Sungnam Orphanage at the

orphanage director’s request, as the staff had been desiring to give each child an individualized

photo album, but did not have the funds available to do so.

None of these wonderful KKOOM activities would have been possible without the generosity of

our donors, and I would like to extend my deepest thanks for your support. It was a blessing for

me to personally witness your precious funds being put to worthy use on behalf of many

children and orphanages across Korea. Up next for KKOOM, we will soon be launching

applications for funding for the 2010 volunteer-led projects. We hope to receive many

applications with fresh ideas and fun activities that would be beneficial for the children, so if you

are currently volunteering at a Korean orphanage please keep your eyes open for more

information. I hope you enjoy reading the rest of this newsletter and seeing the good your

contributions have made possible.

Warmest regards,

Kimberly Cheong

KKOOM Director-At-Large

Columbus, OH

The 3rd Annual KKOOM Holiday Party was held at Samsungwon Orphanage in Gumi on December 12 & 13, 2009. Aimee and 26 volunteers came to help throw the party. There were games, karaoke, presents

for all the kids, arts and crafts, gingerbread trains, and lots of food!

“All of us at Samsungwon welcomed the Christmas season with a party thrown by Aimee and many

other native English speaker volunteers. All of us gathered together and sang songs, took pictures with

Santa Claus, and had music time with teacher Matthew. We sang “Jingle Bells” and “Happy New Year”

while banging on plastic containers to the beats. It was very fun. We also made Holiday cards. The

volunteers who facilitated that station was witty and had a great sense of humor so we were able to

have a really great time. Although there were some volunteers at the party that we had not met before,

they were so friendly and fun that we were able to become friends right away. Since Aimee and the

other volunteers met us on our level we felt very happy and were able to have an even better time. The

time, which on any other day would have passed so slowly, flew by quickly at the holiday party, which

was a bittersweet feeling. The volunteers even took the time to make dinner for us. We don’t know if it

was because we were really hungry, but the meal was truly delicious. We even had ice cream for

dessert. We had a little bit of free time after dinner, then eventually we all met together in the

auditorium. Aimee and the volunteers had prepared beautifully wrapped presents for each and every

kid, and they started passing them out individually. We liked them a lot and were grateful. We want to

thank the volunteers who came from far away to generously share the holiday joy with us and we also

want to thank God who sent us the blessing of Christmas.”

- The girls of the Somang House at Samsungwon (Translated by Kim Cheong)

A group of children at Saegmam Maeul Orphanage in Deoksan really wanted to learn how to play

guitar. They had a teacher, but no guitar. During her trip to Korea last December, board director Kim

Cheong used donations to buy a high quality used guitar for the orphanage. Additionally, a Korean

official donated money for a bass guitar, synthesizers, and cables! Lessons have begun and the

children are learning guitar and starting a band. Stay tuned to the upcoming newsletters and website

for more on this to come. The orphanage also requested socks, so all of the kids received nice warm

socks for the winter!

On December 30th, Kim Cheong helped throw a KKOOM holiday party at Sungnam Orphanage in

Seosan. The party included food, activities, and gingerbread house making. Additionally, photo albums

were purchased for the children for the holidays. The children had a great time at the party as the

photos show:

Sam Dong Boys Orphanage in Seoul had a big holiday party on December 12. KKOOM helped out the

organizers with the gifts by providing 30 gift cards to Home Plus (the Korean equivalent of Target)

for the older children. The party was a success and filled with fun for all the children! Here are some

photos from the event:

More Holiday Events!!!

In the U.S.:

Jess LaPorta’s students at Camden Catholic High School in Cherry Hill, NJ made holiday cards for the

children at Sungnam and Saegam Mauel Orphanages. Kim took them to Korea with her and delivered

them to the orphanages. The kids loved the cards and were asking Kim to translate them. It was a great

cultural exchange for both sides!

Laura Tschop’s Korean Club class at Holabird Academy in Baltimore collected pencils and chapstick to

donate to Saegam Mauel Orphanage. They were able to collect 500 pencils and enough chapstick for each

child in the orphanage. They also made holiday cards and baked cookies to send with their donations.

Here are some photos and what the kids had to say about the project:

“We are the Korean Cub at Holabird Academy in Baltimore, MD. We donated pencils and chapsticks to

Korean kids in orphanages. We made the Korean kids cookies. We would appreciate it if you donate to

the orphanages in Korea too.”

In South Korea:

Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Kelly Kinne teaches at Dunsan Girl's High School in Daejeon, South

Korea. This past winter, she went shopping with 13 of her students with money raised by KKOOM for 26

presents for children at Samsungwon Orphanage in Gumi. The gifts were given to the children at the 3rd

Annual KKOOM Holiday Party at Samsungwon. Kelly says her students “had a great time shopping and

got really into it!” It was a great way for the students to give back in their own community.

Holiday Educational Initiatives

Thank you for your support!!!

Donors since November 2009:

Michael Baldwin

Raisa Belyavina

Ronald Bence &

Maryjean Harrington

Karen Couldin

Rachel Brown

Charla Burill

Thanh Cao

Charles Chang

Jun & Kyong Il Cheong

Susie Choe

Ellen Choi

Jason Clark

William Cook

Sime Curkovic

Lauren Derebey

Like Dolge

Susan Dortants in honor of Alex

Dorants and Brian, Rodney, & Claudia

Cheyne

Nadine Evans

Margaret Febus in honor of Ray Febus

Elizabeth Fitzgerald

Tori Foster

Friends of Harris School,

Class of 2011

Sarah Gaillot

Denice Gonzalez

Khieng Ghov

Good Shepherd Bible

Study Ministry

Lois Graham

Jeanie Greene in honor of Ray Febus

Lauren Gritzke in honor of Karen

Gritzke

Nicole Guarino

Suzanne Gwinner

David Han

Lindsay Herron

James & Charlotte Hoffman

Suzan Hyssen

Cynthia Jachym

Roberta Keller

Amie Kim in honor of Jea Hyoun Kim

Brian Kim

Kil & Jae Yoon Kim

Sungmin Kim

Michael Kleemann

Colleen Kohashi

Gloria Lee

Grace Lee

Steven Lee

Janet Liebendorfer

Molly MacGregor

Irene Markley

Cindy Marriott in honor of Brigid

Kyung Hwa Marriott Fitzergerald

Karen McClain

Janaki O’Brien

Josh Ockert

Jean Olson & Paul Garvie

Brittany Parling

Jordan Paterra

Jesseca Randall

James Ratliff in honor of Sanchez,

Ratliff, Lillman, O'Braint, and Griffin

Martha Rivera

Carol Rosenberg

Charlotte Rydberg

Kristen Seim

Barbara & Dennis Senneseth

Mary Singer

Christine & John Sommerdyke

Linda & Duane Spiess

Mark Squires

Michael & Debbie Stein

Tony Stein & Debbie Rabb

Michelle Sulcov

Nancy Sullivan

Christina Synowiec

Sandra Terbrack

Michelle Tompkins

James Trimpe

Heather Tschop

John Tschop

Julia Unger

Thomas & Lisa Van Dis

Linda Vandercook

Crystal Wells

Amy Whipple

Jody Williams

Steve & Lauren Wolff

Rolen Yoshinaga

Gift in Kind Donations:

April Arrozal

Christine Arrozal

Michael Athy

Thomas Bleazard

Marina Brenden

Caitlyn Burns

Sarabeth Craig

Families and Friends of Miller

Canfield

Emily Goldsmith

Jamal Grimes

Jen Hayes

Leigh Hellman

Karen Jachym

Laura Kennedy

Ashley Kim

Kelly Kinne

Ashley LaFontaine

Yoo Jin Lee

Jocelyn Ma

Nicole Maloof

Nikki Muyskens

Yoojin Nam

Daniel Park

Marie Pineda

Lindsay Pino

Jessy Randall

Christina Rho

John Rios

Matt Rooney

Safety Research & Associates

Jenny Skiba

Liz So

Michael & Debbie Stein

Ashley Stoffers

Jennifer VanTuyl

Leon Wong

Check out the website’s media gallery for more photos and updates of all our events:

http://www.kkoom.org/media.html

We sincerely apologize for any errors or omissions in our donor

list or throughout the rest of our newsletter; please email us at

info@kkoom.org and bring them to our attention. Thank you.

Newsletter created by Leanne Stein, KKOOM Secretary