Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Woman donates school lunch fees for 27 years
By Kim Rahn
A woman has paid school lunch fees on behalf of three to four children at an elementary school in Seoul every month for the last 27 years.
According to Heukseok Elementary School Wednesday, 63-year-old Jeon Yeong-ok, a dietician at a hospital, has donated money to the school for school meals since 1985.
In that year, Jeon’s husband recovered from a critical condition and she decided to pay back to society. One of her friends working at the school told her that some students didn’t have school lunch due to a lack of money, and Jeon started to pay the fee for three to four children.
Principals and nutritionists of the school have expressed their gratitude and the children who got help from her wanted to send her a letter of thanks. But she didn’t want her identity revealed to the students, saying they may feel indebted.
But the 27 years of donation has ended last month _ not because she changed her mind, but because a free school meal program was adopted for all elementary students.
The school officials visited her hospital in May to give her a plaque of thanks but she kept refusing to take it. The plaque was finally given on Dec. 2 after her donation finished. “We really appreciate her steady support and her warm heart to help others,” a school official said.