Designed with Care: Behind the Redesign of KKOOM’s Website
From Discovering KKOOM to Pitching Projects In 2021, Will Landers and I met during our first year as U.S. Fulbright Korea English Teaching Assistants (ETAs). During orientation, Grace Lee, KKOOM’s former Executive Director, shared a presentation about KKOOM’s work. As a Korean adoptee, I was instantly drawn to the organization’s mission and eager to find […]
We Are Closing Out Our Preschool Scholarship Program
Thank you for your many years of generosity toward KKOOM’s Pre-School Scholarship Program, and our “Early education for Korean toddlers” project on GlobalGiving. Your support has helped young children in Korea access early childhood education during a time when government funding was limited. Today, we are writing to share an important update: we will be […]
Updates on Taehyeon KKOOM’s U.S. College Scholar
U.S. College Scholar Program Earlier this year, YANA Ministry, an organization in our network that supports orphans and children experiencing poverty, reached out to ask if we could help a young adult named Taehyeon. Since we have known Taehyeon from his time living at a KKOOM-supported children’s home, our answer was an immediate yes. […]
Be the Change – Reflections from Chaelin Hong
As Chae is wrapping up her role as Executive Assistant for KKOOM, we asked her to share her experiences serving Korean children and what this experience has meant to her. Below are some reflections from KKOOM’s Executive Assistant, Chaelin Hong. Finding My Promise During my first semester of college, I made a promise to myself. […]
KKOOM’s First Wish
The origins of KKOOM began with one simple wish—to bring Christmas cheer to youth living in a children’s home in Gumi, South Korea. In 2004, Aimee Jachym, KKOOM’s Co-founder, was serving as a Fulbright English Teacher and spent her free time volunteering at a local children’s home. Aimee, along with Erika (KKOOM’s other co-founder) and […]
From Vision to Reality
When I became the Executive Director of KKOOM in October 2020, one of my big goals was to plan an in-person event in Atlanta. KKOOM is very unique in that we’ve been in existence since 2007, but for fifteen years, we never hosted an event in the United States, until 2023. That vision in 2020 […]
Unforgettable Memories in America
This summer, KKOOM was able to revitalize a long-lasting program that has not been implemented in ten years – the KKOOM Stay Program. It is an opportunity for KKOOM to fund a homestay program to visit the United States for the youth we serve at KKOOM-supported children’s homes. The last time we did the program […]
The Power of Sharing Your Story
In May 2023, KKOOM hosted its very first event in the United States out of our 15-year existence. It was the Dream Big Gala to bring more awareness about our mission and to start building community in Atlanta as there is a big Korean population in Atlanta, Georgia. The gala featured Korean food, performances, speeches […]