With the chilly season blowing in, the Community Service Club (CSC) hosted the autumn-themed “Fall Into Music” concert on Nov. 5 in the Atrium during activity period and lunch. The club collaborated with the Tri-M Music Honor Society to present various musical performances and passed out drinks and different snacks for the students and staff members to enjoy. To raise funds from the event, tickets for the show were sold at a price of 5,000 won each.
“I think the benefit of working with other clubs is that we do not [focus the event] only on our club specifically,” said Nick Yeo (10), CSC secretary. “CSC members are limited to only turning on music and singing. But by [collaborating with] clubs like Tri-M, we were definitely able to present more professional music with real instruments and well-practiced performances. I think this cooperation with other clubs can attract a much larger audience and raise more awareness about CSC.”
The primary purpose of the concert was to raise money for an organization called Free to Read (FREAD), an organization which provides aid and educational opportunities to impoverished children around the world. In previous years, FREAD has helped out in countries such as Cambodia, Mongolia and Nepal. However, this year, FREAD is cooperating with the Korean Army to assist residents still devastated by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 and to compensate the Philippines for sacrifices this country made during the Korean War. To fill the libraries of the 32 new schools in the Philippines with books and supplies, CSC members donated money from the concert to FREAD.
“[In Cambodia], I went to an orphanage and I was able to see the library that was built with FREAD’s support,” said Erin Hogshead, CSC adviser. “It was just amazing to see this program of young people [who were] so happy with anything that they were given. [As for the] volunteers, they were trying to raise money to keep the orphanage going and it was very humbling to see people working so hard to keep the children safe.”
Through the “Fall Into Music” concert, CSC hopes to raise more awareness about its specific causes and the work that members are involved in, such as their trips to Anna’s House, a soup kitchen where members allocate food to the homeless, jobless and dyslexic. According to Brian Sungbin Kim (10), CSC vice president, members hope to attract more interest from the student body by frequently hosting in-school activities.
“Although the concert turned out great, we have not yet decided whether or not we are going to host it every year,” Brian said. “The concert was one of the big events that CSC planned out and we hope that by directing our focus to more school–related events, people will know about what we do, which is helping people in the community who are actually living really close to us.”