Diageo leads good corporate citizen drive
‘Keep Walking Fund’ helps ordinary people realize dreams
By Kim Jae-won
Big corporations are often seen to be modern-day Scrooges that only care about their bottom line. Some may fit that description but others make genuine efforts to return some of their profits to society. These corporate Samaritans are engaged in a variety of charities; some donating to popular causes and others develop their own programs for philanthropy.
Diageo does such by asking ordinary people about their dreams and selects winners to help them make those dreams come true with its “Keep Walking Fund (KWF).”
The title derives from the famous Johnnie Walker label, on which a man with a top hat and a cane is in mid-stride.
The Korean unit of the U.K.-based international distiller has run its own version of the KWF program since last year to share the liquor maker’s challenging spirit with regular people.
The program is boosting the distiller’s image but, more than that, it is giving flesh and bones to dreams that financial obstacles prevent from coming true.
“I really appreciate Diageo Korea for starting the KWF program. It inspired us to keep walking to reach our dreams,” said Park Hyun-seong, a 2010 winner of the project. Park is a boxing coach of a girls’ middle school team, and hopes one of his students will stand on the podium at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
More than 1,400 people applied this year, and the number was cut to 20 after the first culling last month. The candidates will be reduced to 10 through online voting next week, and the selecting committee will announce the final five awardees on March 23. Diageo Korea will award each of them 100 million won to support their dreams.
Among the 20 hopeful, unique and interesting stories is Kim Soo-young. The Yonsei University graduate and former Goldman Sachs employee had a promising future before she was diagnosed with cancer when she was 25.
She wrote down what she wanted do before she dies. She traveled Latin America, acted on a stage musical, and bought a house for her parents.
Now, she aims to be an evangelist of dreams to encourage people to have their own and to do their utmost to make them come true.
She published a book titled, “Don’t Stop. Write down your dreams” in April 2010 to share her experiences. Kim’s next wish is to meet more people and collect their dreams. She applied for the project to be a messenger of hope.
Another is Lee hwa-yeon who dreams of playing cricket at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. Cricket is still a virtually unknown sport in the nation, the only sport for which South Korea did not send a team to compete in the Asian Games.
The captain of the national cricket team has made efforts to popularize the sport here volunteering to attract financial sponsors. Now, the team has advanced sufficiently to regularly compete with its Japanese counterpart. Lee is preparing for the East Asia Cricket Championship, which will be held in 2012.
Some critics doubt that offering 100 million won could really make someone’s dream come true. But, at least, the Keep Walking Fund program is providing hope for the applicants, that there is someone who wants to help them if they just hang on to their dreams.