Infomag - MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN BUSINESS COMMUNITY IN KOREA

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A Day Trip to the Amusement Park with “Angels’ Heaven

Aug / 2010

EKF and ING Bank’s care and support for Korean youngsters in need

In eagerly anticipating cool summer breeze and the bright blue sky, EKF organized a day trip to ‘Yong-in Everland,’ an amusement park, on Saturday, June 12th for children from parentless family or single parent family with financial difficulties.

23 Children from ‘Angels’ Heaven,’ a social welfare organization in Eunpyung district, Seoul, were invited and 15 employees from ING Bank, the sponsor of the event, voluntarily joined to take care of the participating children.

In order to help building up close relations among the children and ING employees, the participants were divided into 6 groups. Adding that, some of the children needed special care since they were pre-school children. From the moment the children and the voluntary guardians met, they were asking questions and trying to get to know each other better.

After picking up all the children at ‘Angels’ Heaven,’ the bus started heading for Yong-in. Despite all the prayers and hopes, the rain that had started the night before was continually pouring on the way to ‘Everland.’ The heavy rain made the trip delayed for an hour later than its initial plan, and there were tons of people visiting the amusement park in spite of the inclement weather condition.
(Picture#4 & #5)

With all these negative aspects, the participants could have felt exhausted even before entering the park. The children, however, got really excited and happy that they would have the great time with their friends and voluntary guardians from ING Bank. Along with the smile on the children’s faces, EKF and ING staffs were able to feel that they returned to the innocence of childhood, as well.

Because of the heavy rain, some of the rides were not operated, and the afternoon program, touring the zoo, was cancelled, but every participant enjoyed spending time with his or her group members. They continuously talked and laughed in the line waiting for rides and enjoyed the moment together. Before gathering all together for the lunch, each group went separate ways for rides attracting its children the most. Groups with small children were spotted queuing carousel, and others with big kids went to haunted house or the rides pulling out adrenalines. Because of the limited time, participants could only take two or three rides for a whole day, and they would stay for longer if the time had been allowed.

Every participant enjoyed the great time even under unfavorable conditions, and it was the great occasion to put smiles on the children’s faces. ING Bank’s continuous effort on supporting children marked unforgettable memories to the children from ‘Angels’ Heaven.’