GlobalGiving.org: [KKOOM] International Education for Korean Orphans

Education for the little ones too

Aimee Jachym — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 06:38:27 GMT

Since our last update to you, we discovered that many of the preschool-aged children at orphanages in Korea are being delayed for entry into preschool and kindergarten because of new budget restrictions set by the local government offices. KKOOM's focus has been on providing access to education for kids at orphanages in Korea, and we believe that education must start with the youngest of the children. Therefore, we are happy to let you know that Donghyuk, age 3, is now attending preschool on a daily basis thanks to your donations. There, he is learning the ABCs and other basics that will help ensure that his educational career gets off to a solid start at such a young age. In January, KKOOM will also provide financial support for Gaeun, now age 2, to also attend preschool. Gaeun is exceptionally bright for her age and already knows about half of the English alphabet, thanks to the efforts of KKOOM volunteers who play with and teach her English through songs and other media on a regular basis. We are grateful for your ongoing support and invite you to visit our website for more information about KKOOM. Thank you!

Links:

KKOOM website

International Education Program Update from Korea

Aimee Jachym — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 13:33:22 GMT

During the week of August 7 - August 13, KKOOM hosted the first Emmanuel Stay Program for international volunteers at Emmanuel Children's Home in Gimcheon, South Korea. Emmanuel is an orphanage home to about 120 children, ranging in age from infants through university. During the week long program, the volunteers helped the children learn English while living with them on-site at Emmanuel.

The volunteers shared their own insights throughout the week by posting to a blog, which is still accessible here: http://kkoom.org/category/blog/ There are a number of pictures posted on the Emmanuel Children's Home Facebook Page, which can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/EmmanuelGimcheon

Finally, if you have time, we encourage you to check out the article the Korea Herald (Korea's largest English newspaper) ran a few weeks ago about KKOOM and the Emmanuel Stay Program (see link below).

As always, we thank you for your support of KKOOM's efforts to make International Education a top priority for Korean children in the many orphanages here.

~From Gumi, South Korea in Samsungwon orphanage.

Links:

Emmanuel Stay Program in Korea Herald

Online tutoring program is underway!

Aimee Jachym — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:39:03 GMT

Students learning English via online tutoring

Thanks to the wonderful support we've had from our GlobalGiving friends along the way, the KKOOM International Education Program for orphans in Korea is well underway. In the last several weeks, we've launched and are piloting the online tutoring module (with the kids pictured here), which puts Korean orphans face-to-face with native English speaking tutors using Skype video conferencing. You can read more about the program in our most recent newsletter (www.kkoom.org/sp11news.pdf). All of this has been possible because of your support, so thank you once again!

Also, because this project is almost fully funded (YAY!), we wanted to take this opportunity to direct you to KKOOM's latest initiative to support orphans after they grow up and leave the orphanages. It's project #8013 here on GlobalGiving, and we invite you to check it out: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/kkoom-support-for-young-adult-korean-orphans/ If you feel so inspired, you can also help us out on a long-term continued basis by becoming a recurring donor here on GlobalGiving. You can sign up by electing that option when you donate on the project page linked above.

As always, we're grateful for your support and look forward to hearing from you. Drop us a line any time.

Regards,

Aimee

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AIMEE J. JACHYM | President and Chief Administrator

(c) +1-313-288-8382 | (e) ajachym@kkoom.org | (skype) aimeeimnida

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KOREAN KIDS AND ORPHANAGE OUTREACH MISSION (KKOOM)

P.O. Box 973, Portage, MI, USA 49081 | (o) + 1-269-340-0430

www.kkoom.org | Facebook | (twitter) @koreankids

Links:

Let's Finish It with Full Funding!

Aimee Jachym — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 01:35:03 GMT

One of our youngest beneficiaries. :-)

Dear GlobalGiving KKOOM Supporters!

It's an exciting time around here at KKOOM. First of all, our founding president, Aimee Jachym, left her job as a corporate lawyer at Michigan's oldest law firm to pursue the full-time cause of KKOOM's growing outreach. As KKOOM's first chief administrator, Aimee is charged with running the day-to-day affairs of the organization as well as expanding the scope of our work in Korea. See the full press release here: http://www.kkoom.org/PRwpic.pdf

Also, we hope you'll be pleased to hear that KKOOM will pilot our International Education Program (IEP) Virtual English Tutoring in March. We have a super team of dedicated volunteers who are current writing lesson plans and curriculum guides, and soon we'll start recruiting tutors (need to have a computer, web camera, mic, internet connection and passion for teaching) to get everything kicked off smoothly. Let us know (info@kkoom.org) if you'd like to get your hands dirty (virtual chalk) and connect with some kids who'd love to meet you overseas.

Finally, it's our goal that we can soon fully fund our IEP project, which began here on GlobalGiving on March 25, 2010. Would you help us by giving another $10 (to match the $10+ you gave us as long as a year ago). We have just $1,374 to go, and we've had over 400 donations come in via GlobalGiving. If just 25% of you give $10, we can be fully funded, which would be amazing! Please help out if you can, and if you can't give monetarily, would you mind following us on Twitter (@koreankids) or sharing our website on Facebook (www.kkoom.org). Anything you can do to support KKOOM is sincerely appreciated. We love you, all of our donors and fans.

Warmest regards (thank goodness for the mid-winter warm-up here in Michigan!),

Aimee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AIMEE J. JACHYM | President and Chief Administrator

ajachym@kkoom.org | (skype) aimeeimnida | (c) +1-734-308-6946

KOREAN KIDS AND ORPHANAGE OUTREACH MISSION (KKOOM)

P.O. Box 973, Portage, MI, USA 49081 | (o) + 1-269-340-0430

www.kkoom.org | Join the Facebook Group | (twitter) @koreankids

Holiday Wish List = 100% Funding; please help!

Aimee Jachym — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:26:43 GMT

Thanks to the generous support of donors like you and GlobalGiving.org, KKOOM is just $2,144 away from fully funding its International Education Program (IEP), which aims to deliver quality English education to kids in Korean orphanages and also inspire a new generation of globally connected youth, regardless of their socioeconomic status. KKOOM's all-volunteer Curriculum Development Team (CDT) has been working hard to put together, from scratch, a "KKOOM English Curriculum," which will be used for one-on-one online, real-time tutoring with qualified tutors in the U.S. and kids at orphanages in the U.S. You can read more about the CDT n our previous GlobalGiving project update from the summer as well as our recent newsletter, which is linked below.

The $2,144 we have yet to raise for the IEP will be used to purchase necessary technology components, such as laptops or netbooks for the orphanage(s) and wireless routers. Thus, in order to launch this project on-schedule in early 2011, we need your help to push us to the finish line. Can you pitch in another $10 or tell your friends about KKOOM's IEP? Or what about those great holiday gift cards that GlobalGiving.org is selling? Regardless of what you can do, the all-volunteer KKOOM family is fortunate to have your support, and from all of us, thank you and happy holidays!

In addition to the IEP, KKOOM is working on a number of other exciting initiatives, which are described more fully in our newsletter and on our website, both linked below. The highlights include upcoming projects and parties at 5 orphanages in South Korea in December, as well as growing involvement and support from youth throughout the United States. Thank you to all for your continued interest, encouragement, and gifts!

As always, please feel free to contact me directly with questions or comments.

Humbly yours,

Aimee

Aimee Jachym | KKOOM President
(c) +1-734-308-6946 | (skype) aimeeimnida | (e) ajachym@kkoom.org

Connect on Facebook | Twitter @koreankids | Subscribe to e-list

Get Involved! kkoom.org/holiday.html

Links:

Summer Update from Korean Kids & Orphanage Outreach Mission

Aimee Jachym — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:37:53 GMT

Sujin and Jen, a KKOOM Volunteer

Thanks to the generous support of donors like you and GlobalGiving.org, KKOOM has nearly 100% funded its International Education Program (IEP), which aims to deliver quality English education to kids in Korean orphanages and also inspire a new generation of globally connected youth, regardless of their socioeconomic status. We are happy to report that KKOOM has formed an all-volunteer Curriculum Development Team for its first phase of the IEP, which will help kids in Korean orphanages learn English from qualified English tutors in the United States using the latest Internet and computer technology. KKOOM plans to use its own curriculum in order to meet the unique educational challenges, particularly of older children living in orphanages who face disadvantages in their access to adequate English learning resources in and outside of school.

The KKOOM Curriculum will pair children from Korean orphanages one-on-one with volunteers in the United States who have been trained to tutor English. The children will benefit from the comfort of learning in their home environments and interacting face-to-face via video Internet feed with a native English speaker. We hope to raise the confidence and performance of these children and inspire others to keep on learning.

GlobalGiving funds are being used to purchase equipment such as laptop computers and routers for use at the approved orphanages. So as to maximize the financial gifts entrusted to KKOOM, the Curriculum content is being developed 100% by volunteers.

If you are interested in joining the KKOOM Curriculum Development Team, please contact us at info@kkoom.org today. We are looking for more volunteers with education and/or technology backgrounds to help us successfully launch this phase soon.

Our Summer Newsletter is also linked below for you to check out. Thank you to all for your continued support!

Links:

Summer Newsletter

Thank you! Open Challenge = Mission Accomplished

Aimee Jachym — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 02:00:22 GMT

Thanks to the overwhelming success of the GlobalGiving.org Open Challenge, KKOOM is well on its way to making its DREAM PROJECT a reality. The challenge was to raise $25,000 over the next two years to launch the International Education Program (IEP), which you have generously supported. We had no idea that we would be able to raise most of this amount in just 4 weeks!!

With the bonus funds we were awarded from the Open Challenge, we have raised over $28,000 to date for the IEP, which is enough to launch Phase 1. Our next steps will be to implement selection criteria to identify the 2-3 students living at a Korean orphanage, whom we will support for 1+ year to study English at a quality after school program, which will cost about $3,000 per student. We anticipate that the students will begin their intensive English studies in August, to coincide with the start of the 2nd semester of the Korean school year.

Thanks to your generous financial support we will be able to launch this program a full TWO YEARS EARLIER than originally planned. We are so excited to move forward on this amazing opportunity to make a lasting difference in the lives of the Korean kids we serve.

If you're not already subscribed to our regular e-mail list, and would like to sign-up, please follow the link below. We look forward to keeping you apprised of our progress.

Links:

Join our Mailing List

Update: Spring Newsletter

Aimee Jachym — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:23:15 GMT

Thanks to the exposure of GlobalGiving.org's Open Challenge, KKOOM has acheived its long-standing goal of launching its International Education Program for Korean Orphans! The details have been more fully fleshed out and are included in page 4 of our Spring Newsletter, hot off the press!

Thank you to all of our supporters!

Attachments:

Spring Newsletter (PDF)