Young Actress Revealed as No.1 Individual Donor
Civic groups and religious organization are usually busy raising donations from individuals and corporations in December and January, making use of the Christmas and New Year holidays. People are reminded of the spirit of sharing as the yearend season approaches. Marking the 10th anniversary of its foundation Wednesday, the Community Chest of Korea, a nationwide network of 16 nonprofit fundraising organizations, announced that it has raised 1.41 trillion won ($1 billion) in donations over the past 10 years.
The good news is that the yearly fundraising figure increased over 12 times from 21.3 billion won in 1998 to 267.4 billion won in 2007. The bad news is that individual donations fell by 11.7 billion won, or 25 percent in the first nine months of the year from a year earlier, while corporate donations edged up by 850 million won. It is a pity that overall donations declined 15 percent to this year, affected by the persisting global financial crisis and the economic slowdown.
A piece of surprising but pleasing news is that 21-year-old actress Moon Geun-young was found to have donated more than 850 million won ($620,000) over the last six years, becoming the biggest individual donor. A more touching story is that she had wanted to be an anonymous donor. She was trying to make sure that the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. In a nutshell, the renowned actress has firmly stuck to the true principle of charity by not revealing her identify.
The Chest first said that an actress in her 20s made the largest individual contribution, respecting her anonymity. However, it revealed her name one day later because people involved in the entertainment business started to point to Moon. We feel sorry for her because her request was overturned. She might have been embarrassed at the revelation of her name.
But people feel happy to realize that the student actress has contributed a beautiful, humanitarian act silently. What a wonderful story it is! There are many politicians, bureaucrats, businesspeople and other noted figures who are just trying to publicize or brag about their donations or charitable activities. It is not in the true spirit of sharing for one to show off what he or she has done.
South Koreans are required to think over the meaning of charity following Moon's example. She has maintained her fresh image as the ''national sister actress'' since she climbed to stardom with hit movies ''The Tales of Two Sisters" (2003) and ''My Little Bride" (2004).
It's time for us to change our donation culture so that more and more ordinary people can actively donate even a small amount of money in an effort to share with others. We should no longer depend on a small number of people or businesses that contribute relatively large sums to charity. What's really important is that we have to harbor love for our neighbors, especially the poor and the underprivileged.