Jin Kim is determined to snip away at poverty, one Korean soup bowl at a time (Photo by Squirrel83).
The 38-year-old Korean American man from Flushing, N.Y. has started a charity with his wife that focuses on helping out impoverished individuals in Flushing, which is a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens.
According to census data and the latest state employment report, Flushing has an unemployment rate of 9.1% which is higher than Queens’ overall 6.7% rate.
Kim is a Korean-American immigrant and John Jay College Ph.D student who got the idea to start a charity when he first arrived in Queens 12 years ago and struggled to survive.
“Not only me, a lot of people need help,” said Kim.
Last month Kim’s charity, the Queens Sharing Hope Foundation, gathered enough donations to hand out 250 bowls of Korean “Guk-Bab” soup to elderly and homeless people. Local restaurant Parksanbal Babs served up the tasty meat and rice dish.
Now, Kim is working with local businesses to distribute free haircuts and medicine to Queens’ neediest.
Lewis Pharmacy on Roosevelt Ave. in Flushing will carry free packages with cold and digestion medication, bandages and first-aid ointment starting March 24, Kim told the Daily News.
“Every time they have a cold or a stomach ache, they can stop by and pick up the packages,” said Kim.
He’s also working to launch a program in April that will allow good samaritans to pay in advance for other’s free haircuts at participating barbershops throughout Queens.
To read more about Kim and his efforts, read the article at the Daily News.
