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| People enjoy a Mexican cooking class, with the proceeds from ticket sales donated to raise funds for Korean orphans' university tuition. Korea Times photo by Lim Tae-hyeong |
By Lee Han-na
Give Korea, a crowdfunding site created six months ago to raise money to help people in need, joined hands with the Oak Tree Project to raise money for scholarships for Korean orphans who are entering and attending university. The two hosted a Mexican food cooking class at Elx Cooking Studio in Seoul on Saturday.
Despite the short span of time, Give Korea crews have been successfully helping needy people through cooperation with Asian Boss, a YouTube channel with about 1.42 million subscribers.
Together with beauty queen Kim Soo-min, the winner of the 2018 Miss Korea pageant, and Chef D Christian Morales from the Mexican restaurant El Pino 323 in Itaewon, Give Korea has raised more than 3.4 million won. Although their performance is impressive, more funds are needed to fully support Korean orphans whose average monthly living expenses are about 500,000 won.
In a speech at the opening event, Kim expressed her heartfelt gratitude for the donors.
She shared her experience, saying "Scholarships meant a lot for me when I was in college as well. They not only helped me financially but inspired me to dream bigger. I am happy to take part in this event because scholarships are very important to students."
After the speech, Chef D taught 28 participants how to make guacamole, chicken enchiladas and tacos.
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| Chef D Christian Morales looks out at the cooking class at Elx Cooking Studio in Seoul. Korea Times photo by Lim Tae-hyeong |
The chef has a unique background that helped him to sympathize with Korean orphans. A Korean-adoptee who was sent to the United States, he struggled in vain to find a peaceful home environment. Frustrated, he joined a gang and was later deported to Korea.
He personally knows the negative effects of a bad environment on young people. When he came up with the idea of hosting a charity event for needy people, he said he didn't think twice because it was an opportunity for him to help the people.
Kim John, chief operating officer of Give Korea, commented, "The problem with lots of people who have a very good heart is that, sometimes, they burn out. But with Chef D, I knew he knew these orphans very well, so he would do whatever it took to help. And I know he cares a lot."
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| Kim Soo-min, winner of the 2018 Miss Korea pageant, poses with a chopping board at the cooking event in hopes to inspire more young people to pursue education. Korea Times photo by Lim Tae-hyeong |
Beauty queen Kim said she happily joined the charity event.
"When Chef D first approached me telling me about his plans to help students pursuing higher education, it personally really touched my heart and I wanted to help because scholarship also meant a lot to me when I was in college. If it wasn't for my school, and my friends and family, I wouldn't be where I am today. So, I thought I would also share what I have been given," she shared.
"To be honest, I was very nervous preparing for this event. We'll have like hours of meetings to go through plans and food. And I didn't know the audience that well. I only heard the majority of the audience is international and we have about six or seven local Korean people. So, I I'd have to translate but everyone speaks English. It is so casual and friendly that people are networking here. They love this event."
Give Korea does not only focus on Koreans but also on getting international support and attention for people in Korea. Donations mostly come from the United States, Europe and Singapore.
Five percent of donations come from Korea, which is one of the platform's challenges ― to increase awareness within the country as well.
"There are misconceptions that Koreans are selfish. But it is not true. Over time, Korean society became so competitive that it is just so hard to share the profit. Time is needed to build their income so that they will feel safe to give," John explained.
"We built the platform on the hypothesis that everybody in this world is kind. We just want to harness that kindness."
He added Koreans tend to donate their talents and time to meaningful projects instead of just donating money.
Lee Han-na is a Korea Times intern.
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