Local Foundation Supports Elder Abuse Awareness, Kids With Disabilities

The second annual “,” sponsored by the Fort Lee-based , took place in December at the Fort Lee Recreation Center. All proceeds from the event, which netted about $7,000, according to executive director Taehyo Park, were intended to benefit community organizations that serve the underprivileged in any of the five categories of groups the charitable organization supports, including the elderly, at-risk youth, people with disabilities, women and immigrants.  

Now, several months after the market intended to celebrate the spirit of “Sharing and Giving,” or Nanum in Korean, the foundation announced it has identified two organizations it will support as a result of its efforts: the third conference of called "Elder Abuse - Reaching for Solutions," and the America Wheat Mission in NJ, an after school program for disabled youth.

“It took some time in selecting the programs that we would support,” Park said. “[Joan Alter of Fort Lee] happened to run the board, and we talked about it and decided to go with SAAFE, the third conference for elderly abuse.”

Alter as “a bunch of retired social workers and psychologists that got together to form this group.”

SAAFE sponsors presentations for various groups, including police departments and other emergency service agencies, Alter told Patch last year.

“People are very unaware of [elder abuse],” she said. “I was aware of it because I had worked at a hospital where I came across several cases of it. It’s not just the physical part, which sometimes they see, but there’s emotional, sexual, financial mistreatment or total neglect of people over the age of 65.”

The funding from the Beautiful Foundation USA is specifically for SAAFE’s third conference to be held in May of 2013, according to Alter.

“Wehave a rough outline, finding solutions, but we’re working with the Bergen County Freeholders and with Lorraine Joewono, who’s in charge of all senior programs in the county, and we’re very excited about it,” she said.

Park said the organization that will share the funding from the Beautiful Foundation USA, the Wheat Mission in NJ, runs an afterschool program for disabled children, “mostly kids with Down’s syndrome.”

He said the group was recently having difficulties with their program. Specifically, they were ousted from the space they had been using. In both cases, Park said, the funding from the Beautiful Foundation is intended to help.

“It’s not like our funding will suddenly resolve those issues; it’s a moderate amount,” Park said. “Through this, our purpose is to shine a light on these issues so they will get the attention that they need.”

The now annual NANUM market, which Park said will take place again in December, “was made possible through community grassroots efforts, which started from a flea market concept but became much more than that.”  

“It evolved into something of a ‘Collective Day Market for the Community’ where corporations, non-profit organizations, local stores and individuals all came together under the spirit of sharing and giving and sold donated goods, both old and new,” Park said in announcing the funding decision. “We publicly promised that the net proceeds [would] all be going to support vital community programs.”

Next up for the Beautiful Foundation is its annual fundraising Gala, which takes place May 31 at the Teaneck Marriott at Glenpointe. Park said the event is a fundraiser and more.

“Through this, again, we wish to serve as a community organization actively, spreading the very spirit of sharing and giving,” he said. “All participants, no matter how high-profile they are, are donating their time and efforts to make it into a night of NANUM.”

The keynote speaker for the Gala is the Honorable Jane Kim, the first Korean-American Supervisor-elect in the U.S., representing District 6 in the City and County of San Francisco, and former president of the San Francisco Board of Education. The MC for the evening is renowned Korean actress Suh Min Jung.

Park also said the drum troupe from the America Wheat Mission in NJ, comprised of kids with disabilities, will be performing at the Gala.

For more information and a Gala sponsorship package, see the PDF to the right of this article.

The Gala, which Park called “our big fundraising event,” is intended to help the Beautiful Foundation USA identify “community-critical programs” and raise the money it needs “to do the necessary research we need to do in order to find the programs we ultimately support.”