The So-Good project, which stands for Serving Others, Giving of Our Deeds, is an annual school-wide fundraiser held at our school in December. The fundraiser lasts for a week and aims to help organizations in our local community such as the Eastern Social Welfare Society, Ethel’s Maul, Seoul National Univesity Children’s Hospital, etc. The most recent So Good project lasted from November 11th to December 6th, 2019, and my service initiative called the J&R DreamBox project was part of this So Good project. The J&R DreamBox project aims to help young siblings of patients at Seoul National Univesity Children’s Hospital by delivering “DreamBoxes” filled with presents. This year, we were able to get enough items to fill 50 DreamBoxes and they were delivered on January 3rd this year. 

Read one of my previous articles, “If There’s No Bright Side, Make One”, to learn more about the J&R DreamBox project. http://www.heraldtomorrow.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=613

[Jooyoung and I delivering the boxes to the Wriggling Flower Seed Shelter. Photo credit: Yun Lee]

This year’s fundraiser was a good opportunity to combine my passion for art and my will to serve others. I designed the poster and the banner for the school-wide project. The previous banner was used for the past three years, so I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to design a new one that will grasp the attention of students. It was definitely a challenge for me to design a poster from scratch because there were no specific requirements. I came up with the bear family dressed up for Christmas because I wanted to show the joyful feelings for the holiday and also included a minimalistic design of the pagoda in our school, inspired by the old school logo. To create this poster, I first painted the bears with watercolor before working with Adobe Illustrator for the background, font, and text. The process of finalizing the posters was tough because it had to be perfect since it will be displayed around the entire school and would be used for the next couple of years. I also designed special eco-bags with a print of a DreamBox with balloons for everyone who contributed to the project.

[So-Good Project banner. Photo Credit: Rayoung (Madeline) Lee]

 

 

[Eco-bag designed as gifts for people who have donated to the project. Photo Credit: Rayoung (Madeline) Lee

Compared to last year, we had more donations for toys such as legos, figures, and stuffed animals. These toys are highly preferred because they usually are new and since the patients at the hospital often have low immune systems, used items might not be good for them. After sorting out the gifts depending on new and used items, we packaged all the new items into small boxes based on gender and sealed them with stickers. Looking at all the boxes ready to be sent off, I felt the same sensation as last year as I visualized the big smiles on the children’s faces.

These boxes are delivered to the ‘Wriggling Flower Seed Shelter’ at Seoul National University Hospital, run by the palliative care team aimed at reducing stress and improving the quality of life of long term care patients. Many patients visit this shelter with their families to get mental and psychological support as well as get detailed feedback on their development, but sometimes the shelter is simply meant for family time. I hope these gifts are a great opening to the New Year for the patients and their families.

[Packaging the DreamBoxes to be delivered to the hospital. Photo credit: Yun Lee]

This project reminded me of why we serve; it’s not about recognition, but genuine care for the people. There are so many areas in our community that need our help and serving them doesn’t require large scale projects. For example, one way to serve is designing your own Christmas card, selling the cards to your family members or your friends and donating the proceeds to a charity. Service doesn’t have to involve money. You could volunteer at orphanages, nursing homes, animal shelters, food banks, etc. Perhaps your New Year’s resolution could be ‘To help the people in my community’.
 

 








Rayoung (Madeline) Lee
Junior (Grade 11)
Seoul Foreign School

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