Dear friends of KoreanAmericanStory.org,
In April of this year, my father, Dr. Byoung G. Choh, passed peacefully in his sleep after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He survived the Japanese occupation, escaped North Korea during the Korean War, and immigrated to Ohio in 1972 with his wife and three children. When thinking about his remarkable life, I’m so thankful we were able to capture his stories through KoreanAmericanStory.org’s Legacy Project and will cherish and preserve his video for our family’s history.
My father’s video reminds me of how important it is to make the Legacy Project accessible to more Korean Americans in all parts of the country. In 2022, KoreanAmericanStory.org recorded nearly 100 Legacy Project videos, all free to participants. We were able to provide this service to our community because of generous donations from our financial supporters. To help this project become more accessible across the nation, we will still need your financial support.
We want to capture diverse stories and continue to keep Legacy Project free for the community. Next year, we plan to record another 100 stories of Korean Americans across Texas, Maryland, Virginia, DC, New Jersey, and New York. The cost of recording, editing, transcribing, translating, and archiving these videos will be over $100,000. Legacy Project is at the heart of the organization and with your financial support, we can make it available to anyone who wants to preserve their story or a story of a loved one.
We are also excited to announce that we will be hosting ROAR Story Slam in Houston, TX for the first time in the Spring of 2023! This storytelling competition for Korean Americans is a fun event for the entire family, and a wonderful community building event. It is a special feeling to be in a room full of people who have shared experiences with you, being entertained by stories that you can relate to. Roar Story Slam can expand to new cities with financial support from our supporters.
As we look forward to more fun and meaningful programs in 2023, we need your help. Our mission is to capture, preserve, and share stories of the Korean American experience. A donation of any amount is highly appreciated as it will go towards creating and sustaining programs that fulfill this mission. As you plan your year-end giving, we hope we can count on you to support the work of KoreanAmericanStory.org to elevate and amplify our stories.
Thank you!
Theresa Choh-Lee
Co-Founder and Board Member
