Help Your Suwon Week 9 (Audit)

Current Balance   : 59,090 won

Previous Balance : 56,410 won

Newly Deposited  :   2,680 won (60,000 won - 57,320 won)

News flash everyone!

Sometime this week, Korean Herald is going to do a segment on Help Your Suwon. I contacted Kirsty, a reporter from KH and asked her to do a piece on us. She and I got to know each other back in summer and she was kind enough to introduce my then-intention to launch Help Your Suwon. Because of the piece, some people contacted me and have joined the cause. Now, although we have several regulars, I thought we could use more hands to help those in need. However, the piece is going to seek for financial donation, medical supplies, clothes and food rather than extra volunteers. (I believe we are a very tight group) Anyhow, I contacted the NGO office and asked what they need for homeless and those items were their answers to my question. So, hopefully, there will be more people supportive of what we have been doing.

Also, as you well know next week is Korean lunar new years. I believe that there will be some people taking a short sojourn domestically. I will put up a notice and you can sign or not. Depending on the number of people signing up, there is a chance that we might need to cancel the activity.

Anyhow, I hope you all have a great week.

p.s. I will buy, with our fund, enough number of copies of Korea Herald when they print our stories out. :)

New Year's Resolution 2012

This year, there is no such a thing as New Year's Resolution. Why? That I don't know. It is probably because I really haven't had an opportunity to ponder upon it at the end of the last year or on the onset of this year. But, what is certain is that I really don't like anything set in stone for now.

Last week was such a turmoil. I am back at my old job. And it was a series of awakenings.

First, I came to the realization that I really love my job where I work with dedicated, smart and funny coworkers. Grant it, my team has a lot of workload and they are one of the things that get me through everyday. Now that I was away from these people for a whole year last year, I feel very lucky to work with them. Although there is going to be a reshuffling  at work, I will enjoy to the last minute.

Secondly, I think I have become more flexible and more mature to some respects. This has to do my work of course. As much as I don't relish office politics, somehow I have manged to give into it. Of course, I am not a suck-up. I don't just say things that I don't mean. Also, when necessary, I just say things in lieu of suppressing it.

But then again, there is a fine line between being a straight shooter/asshole and a borderline kiss-ass. Just sugarcoat facts a little. Make them sound tad saccharine. So that it would sound sweat to someone's ear. It works. This, however, bring me a question; am I changing? Am I losing my identity? Maybe or maybe not-

In the long term, I would like to say that I am evolving. I'd like to think of it as opting for different options and deciding which way you are going to turn out down the road. As "evolution theory" states, the better ones will survive. The, here "better" means, put in the context of work environments, someone more flexible, someone, and yet principled, someone who is likeable and yet someone hardworking. I am a staunch supporter of the theory that the world is better not only because of hardworking people, but also because of handful of genius spawning off the groundbreaking ideas and that changes the world.

In retrospect, I think the year 2012 is going to be a change for me to look back at my life, gather my thought and finally present myself a certain set of my own philosophies. So far, it is going well. But, I need more challenges.. or obstacles. 

Help Your Suwon Week 8 (Audit)

Current Balance : 56,410 won
Newly Deposited : 8,230 won (50,000 won - 41,770 won)
Previous Balance : 48,180 won

Sorry that the scanned file of the bankbook is a bit blurry.

Help Your Week 7 (Audit)

Current Balance : 48,180 won
Newly Deposited : 7,600 won (50,000 won - 42,400 won)
Previous Balance : 40,580 won

I would like to add more, but I will do so in the not too distant future. We have a new comer, Karen, by the way. Thank you for having showed up last Sunday. I wish ya'll a happy new year.

Help Your Suwon (Week 6 Audit)

Present Balance : 40,580 won
Newly Deposited : 14,780 won (60,000 won - 45,220 won)
Previous Balance :25,800 won

I don't have a scanner at home, so had to just take pictures of the bankbook and the receipt.

Anyhow, Week 6 fell on Christmas. So, we all wore something realted to Christmas to make it more Christmas-like. We bagged up the neck warmer and doled it out to the people. I hope they know how to wear it. Also, we threw in an extra item : Moonpie aka Choco-pie. After all, more than 30 people were received what we prepared that night. It went really really fast.


What followed after the volunteering was more enjoyable. Dinner, karaoke and most of all free hug. I am sure you've all seen the pictures here and there on Facebook, so I am not going to describe further.

Thank you very much everyone for showing up even on Christmas. It really means a lot to me, personally. See you this weekend, ladies and gentlemen. Good night-

Help Your Suwon (Wee 5 Audit : Dec 18th 2011)

Current Balance : 25,800 won (15,350 won + 10,440 won)

Newly Deposited : 15,360 won (60,000 won - 35,100 won[food] - 9,540 won[tangerine])

Previous Balance : 49,360 won (as of 12th Dec)

Reflective Vests   : 16,920 won (13th Dec)

Neck Warmers     :  22,000 won (13th Dec)

                          :  10,440 won (as of 13th Dec)

 

At the end of the night, it was 6 people; 4 more than I anticipated. Yester night, Derrick, Sarah L and Sarah C, Melea, and Tammy showed up. I was tad worried that it was going to be only Derrick and I, but the members keep surprising me. So much so that, I got my ass kicked at "Oh-Mok". We were, after bagging up the food, hanging out at the new office and someone suggested we play it. It turned out it was a lot of fun.

This week, we handed out about 22 bags. It was a bit less than I thought. The NGO person who led us said that people, due to the cold weather, spread out through the city so as to secure space to crash or stay warm. I thought they would stay inside the station since it is warmer than the outside. Apparently, I was wrong.

Next week is Christmas. Some members said that they would bring and don Christmas-related accessories and that we will hang out afterwards. It is going to be fun and meaningful weekend. Oh, also, the official uniforms and the Christmas gifts will be distributed on the next session. So, come and join us.

Help Your Suwon (Weekly Audit : Dec 12th 2011) + More

New Balance       : 49,360 won
Newly Deposited  : 12,000 won (60,000 won - 5,900won(tangerines) - 42,1000(food)
Previous Balance : 37,360 won

-Also, I have received "advances" from Rachael(20,000), Amanda(9,000) and Maeve(10,000) because they said they might not be able to show up next week or a week after. I did not deposit them just in case you show up. Even if you don't show up, the money will be spent the next time you make an appearance!

- On top of that, I would like to post something regarding our future plans. I am writing this so that every participant will be kept in the loop and also this regards the donation that you've made. I deal with taxes, so feel compelled to do so when it comes to others money.

  a) We've created our official logo
   : It is still in the making, but I need to tweak it a bit before using it officially. Sorry, if you were absent last night, but sooner or later you will be able to see it. The purpose of the coinage is to imbue ourselves a certain identity.

  b) We are going to have our official uniform.
   : After some heated(?) debating last night, we opted out for our uniform that we will don  each week. It is a reflective vest. I know.. I know.. but with the limited budget, we needed something cheap. What's more, our logo will be branded on the uniform. And the number of the uniform would be 7 or 8.

  c) We might expand our work.
   : We talked about helping out this orphanage in Suwon. I previously contacted the well-establish orphanage and asked if we could help. The person in charge told me today that there are only 2 kids willing to learn English from you. Since the demand is somewhat lower than I anticipated I will devise something more and email it to her sometime tomorrow. I will meet her sometime next week to discuss the details. In this light, I need your suggestions e.g. things we can do for the kids.... playing games.. or cleaning.. anything would be all right. And I expect this project to start next year.

  d) Chirstmas event
    : We talked about what to do for homeless at the station. I spawned the idea to give them what Koreans call "neck warmer" a shard of cloth that you can wrap around your neck or head to stay up.. aka gator neck.... It is super cheap and will be bagged with food on Christmas. Also, some participants said they would bring Santa hats and reindeer's antelopes to make it more Christmas-tsy when disseminating food on the 25th.


  e) New Office
    : Yes, they opened a new office next to the station. Now it is even closer from the supermarket. No need to pass through that disgusting bus stop, steering clear of the crowd, smoke and spit! It is a one story building equipped with amenities such as a rec room, bunk beds, showers, and what not. We had a chance to sit on the floor at the rec room (Korean style, baby) and chitchatted a bit. So, it is going to be our new rendezvous point from next week.


  e) PLUR
   : Some members suggest that we join PLUR online and thus send out invites to more people. I looked at their facebook online and it was quite good. However, I still have some qualms about sending out nondiscriminatory invites to people. I think we should revisit the issue next week or a week after.


Yup. This is pretty much what you missed out from last night. Not too much to digest, right? hehe. Anyways, again, I would like to thank you all for your participation and passion. Ya'll have a great week and hope to see you next week. (The meeting place will be the same tho)