2025 Kkachi Foundation Trip Report
Hello Kkachi Friends and Family!
It’s that time of year again! We truly cherish this time to revisit all the joys and highs of each program and share them with everyone who has come alongside us and supported us on this wonderful, crazy, journey. Even though we try to keep the essence of every itinerary essentially the same, every year there are new adventures and challenges. Such is life with God!
This year, our class had four students, but only two, a boy and a girl, came and stayed with us in the U.S from July 22nd – 31st. We have so much fun with these kids that sometimes it can be easy to lose sight of why they are with us in the first place: that these are orphans with complex stories that may also have complex emotional, mental, and physical needs.
Our program is open to ALL students, but we defer to the orphanage leadership as the adults who know and love these kids best and know what is best for them. What that means for us this year was that two students remained in South Korea.
We navigated this uncharted water by keeping their names on the Kkachi class shirts and creating “souvenir bags” that highlighted different moments of the trip. We want to, in particular, extend a massive thank-you to some of the families from Arumdaun church for rolling with the punches when we asked for their gifts to the two stateside students to be unexpectedly doubled.
Their grace and generosity, as well as their overflowing love for our students, deeply spoke to our hearts and made us so grateful for this extended family of faith that God is bringing together. Seeing the kids spend time with them during the Yale tour was such a blessing and an experience that will have a lasting impact on our kids.
We navigated this uncharted water by keeping their names on the Kkachi class shirts and creating “souvenir bags” that highlighted different moments of the trip. We want to, in particular, extend a massive thank-you to some of the families from Arumdaun church for rolling with the punches when we asked for their gifts to the two stateside students to be unexpectedly doubled.
Their grace and generosity, as well as their overflowing love for our students, deeply spoke to our hearts and made us so grateful for this extended family of faith that God is bringing together. Seeing the kids spend time with them during the Yale tour was such a blessing and an experience that will have a lasting impact on our kids.
“The history, traditions, and attention to detail for students were evident throughout the campus, and experiencing it firsthand made me wish I could study at such a school. After the tour, we received unexpected gifts from the church friends, and I was deeply moved.” -Jihan
We also want to say thank you to all the people in this growing spiritual family that make all these incredible memories, experiences, and moments possible! We may be the stewards of this vision, but it truly takes a VILLAGE to make every detail happen and we have been blessed beyond measure.
Every donation, every meal, every sacrifice of time, every played game, every prayer, every word-of-mouth share; these are all MINISTRY moments, and we are so overwhelmed and honored at the outpouring over the last three years and the ability to share in this experience with all of you. It does NOT go unnoticed!
“Thanks to everyone who took such careful care of us from the beginning to the end of the trip, I was able to learn and feel so much…I feel that one day I want to be the kind of person who can give others the valuable opportunities I experienced. This experience will forever remain my most treasured memory.” -Hyun
Another new adventure was the opportunity this year to spend a bit more time in Manhattan. We did all the same things as previous years, but also added on a trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island based on recommendation from the class of 2024, as well as a Yankees game! We always try to include things our students are interested in, and we had two big baseball fans with us this year. Despite the heat, it was an incredible experience and we all had a blast.
Ellis Island was particularly meaningful, especially since Rob got to tell the students the story of his great-grandfather’s arrival, and we all got to find his name on the wall of arrivals.
Such a small thing, but the sharing of these personal moments, whether it’s the story of an ancestor that brings a piece of history alive or a trip to a grocery store we grew up going to as kids (Stew Leonard’s, another new stop), the sweetness is in the personalization and details: the things you would naturally share with your own child. Getting to see and experience these memories afresh through the joy and wonder in our students’ eyes is something we will never get tired of.
Every year, we also make a point to bring the students to our church, Vox Church, and every year we experience further confirmation that God does not need language to encounter people! We have worked on getting “in the moment” translation during the service, with varying degrees of success, but every year we watch God show up in His house!
We have seen chaperones moved to tears despite a sizeable language barrier, students worshipping and lifting hands despite not knowing the words to songs, and we wanted to share some of their comments on the experience as a reminder of the greater purpose of Kkachi, above the fun activities and deep conversations: to show and share the LOVE that our good good Father has for His children.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, Jihan! We thank GOD for the opportunity to pour into this ministry and these kids every year and cannot wait for what God has in store for the future of Kkachi. The one thing we do know, it will never be dull or static on God’s path!
Thank you again to everyone who made this possible; our sponsors Trader Joe’s of Orange and Costco of Milford for donating food, Six Flags New England, Art’s Dune Tours, Alex Juchniewich, and Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch for helping these kids have some incredible experiences, the Arumdaun Church community in Long Island and Connecticut Korean Mission Church for creating amazing community and opportunities for connection in English and Korean, our community group leaders Matt and Lisa Butts as well as the entire group, Ken and Sue Folchi, Jon Lukianuk, and Pawel Juchniewich for hosting family dinners and going above and beyond, The Frances and Benjamin Benenson Foundation for their generous donation for the second year in a row, and the Park family for loving these kids like your own and your generous gifts, as well as every single other person who has poured into this. This is kingdom work!
2025 Sponsors
2025 Expense Summary
