By Alex Robinson
Even though she left her homeland of South Korea more than 20 years ago, Kwanghee Kim has continued to find ways to help the Korean community in her adopted home.
As the founder of the Korean American Family Service Center, Kim has helped thousands of women and families affected by domestic violence.
She created the non-profit in 1989 and ran it out of a Manhattan church, before later moving the organization to Flushing.
Kim, 70, originally immigrated to the United States in 1969 with only $100 in her pocket to study biochemistry at the University of Chicago. She later moved to New York City with her family when her husband got a job at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Manhattan.
She took inspiration to start her own organization to help downtrodden members of the Korean community from her mentor, Dr. Tae Young Lee, the first female lawyer in Korea, who ran an aid center for abused women in Korea.
Kim said she wanted to empower single mothers by creating a family for those whose own family units were viewed as dysfunctional.
“There are all different types of family. Family is the people who care about each other,” she said. “We try to promote healthy family and a healthy community.”
When Kim finally started the organization, which was an idea that had brewed in the back of her mind for years, she said she felt she had to cut ties with Lee’s aid center in Korea. She said the organization needed to be independent as it was going to be American as well as Korean.
She found a new partner in the New York Women’s Foundation in 1991. The foundation gave KAFSC a $15,000 grant, which started a decades long partnership between the two organizations.
KAFSC now provides domestic violence counseling, as well as a scholarship program for struggling mothers. It also offers a number of different educational programs for adults, children and youth seeking help or refuge from violence.
The organization, which has a bilingual 24/7 hotline at 718-460-3800, said it served 1,800 individuals in fiscal year 2013.
KAFSC recently merged with another Korean organization called the Women In Need Center, which has served as an emergency shelter for battered women and children for 21 years. WINC also offers counseling and advocacy services similar to those offered by KAFSC.
Kim’s nonprofit is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month with a gala May 16, when it plans to honor its founder with an award.
She insisted the work done by KAFSC is a collective effort done by a large team of volunteers and employees. Kim, who works as a chemist at New York Presbyterian Hospital, considers herself a cheerleader for the group.
“We are born to be loved, not to be abused,” she said. “If anyone abuses you for any reason, KAFSC will be behind you and we’re a powerful family.”
Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
