MEET AND GREET- Stephanie Misung Kim
Welcome to monday at the office and the beginning of our last week here as interns for the supply.
We’ve been through a lot you and I. An entire summer gone, but not without its fanfare and its progress. Alas, this is our last MEET and GREET. And today, we’ll be covering the girl who’s been covering us, from the very first monday up to this very day.
Steph “Steffi” Kim came into the office already as a seasoned Supply veteran. Under her resume, she had already given her birthday to the Supply Classroom campaign, where she instead of presents, she asked for donations in order to build a classroom in Lenana. The campaign would then reward her the privilege of naming rights for the classroom that she funded.
After a successful campaign, a classroom minted and named, everyone who was anyone knew that 20 year old Steph was MRS. BIG TIME BIG SHOT, a real secret-weapon for the nonprofit field.
A whole summer spent fundraising has had me realize exactly how difficult it is to garner any kind of donation, especially when working with a 24 hour window that Steph gave herself. I contemplated, how in the world did one girl raise so much money in one day? Could she have girlscout cookie experience? The thing every man is looking for. Influence. She has it in spades. How?
Every day of our internship has been filled with the collective, unique faces, sound effects, guttural gruntings, and giggling of Ms. Steffi Kim. Forever an unrelenting ball of energy, Steph supplies more than enough treats, laughter, and non-prescription hipster glasses to keep the supply team full, happy, and fashion-forward.
Our movement coordinator, Shawn, once told me that if you don’t believe in something, people will glare holes right through you. In an industry like ours we need to clutch and hold onto our stories and our beliefs in hopes that people will see our constant attachment to our truth and pledge to support us. I’ve never witnessed such genuine compassion and attachment to a cause and its faces before or since I’ve met Steph.
I soon realized that Steph was able to raise over a thousand dollars in a day with a 2 min. video, because from whatever angle you look and scrutinize her actions, her words, there was absolutely zero sense of doubt. Every emotion conveyed in that video about the future of our kids in Lenana is a heartfelt one, and in a era disheveled and defined by facebook, where true heartfelt sentiment can be hidden behind emoticons, tumblr dashboards and youtube banter, there was nothing “fake” or “manufactured” about her motivation and her heart.
She wants high school for these kids. She finds them to be full of hope. She’s worked for them this entire summer and will continue to smile, scrunge her face up, and love these kids.
That’s our team. We love those who have read and stuck with us till this very end. We Are All The Supply and We will continue to be and do so even as this summer fades into the next. and the next. Supply for Lenana. Supply for me. Supply for you.
Meet, Greet and Be the Supply constantly.
-the supply intern team
