On Thursday, February 8th, the Korean Culture Club (KCC) had a bake sale where they sold traditional Korean foods, such as Dr. Nam’s Korean Barbecue, to raise money for North Korean Refugees. I spoke to club founder and co-leader Chloe Nam (Form V) to learn more about the bake sale.
When asked about how the club decided to have a bake sale, Nam said, “We just decided that we wanted to raise money; we wanted it to go to a good cause. All of us are very passionate about North Korean refugees, and we found an organization and raised money. We planned out what to sell, and when and where, and marketing all of that. We wanted to share things (traditional Korean foods) that we love with our community and hopefully they love them too.” The sale was extremely successful; the KCC raised $1288.36 for the Liberty in North Korea organization, which aims to rescue North Korean refugees through secret escape routes over 3,000 miles long.
During Funny Time on February 8th, students found the KCC stand in the Quad, and a line formed immediately. The KCC members helped students pre-order Korean Barbecue for lunch. Nam said, “The Korean Barbeque was definitely the biggest hit. It sold out and we actually had people pre-order it.” The KCC also sold packaged snacks, such as Pocky and Hello Panda cookies. At lunch time, students lined up in the cafeteria to receive their pre-ordered Korean Barbeque. They received plates containing Korean Barbecue, seaweed and rice rolls, kimchi and sticky rice. When asked about the success of the bake sale, Nam said, “We individually went to H-Mart and we just got our own stuff. We actually ended up getting way too much stuff. We probably got ten bags of stuff, which I was scared was not gonna sell out at all, but, surprisingly, every single thing sold out. We even had to start making our own stuff with rice and seaweed.”
When asked if the KCC plans on holding another bake sale, Nam responded, “We are definitely going to do it again because we ran out pretty fast, and next time we’re gonna have way more stuff and much bigger portions.”
Aside from holding bake sales, the KCC serves as a space for Korean students at Fieldston to gather and find a sense of community among their shared heritage and culture. Nam said, “The Korean Culture Club was created as a place to really just allow people to find Korean community – and it’s really fun getting to share our lived experiences and favorite foods. I think it’s really cool because it’s a unique thing that Fieldston has that not a lot of other schools have.”
