Mailbox of peace

Epi logue Mai lbox of Peace 156 157 Korea Foundation & US Peace Corps KF COVID-19 Survival Box Gratitude Letter Col lection Epilogue Countless letters of gratitude After sending the KF COVID-19 Survival Box to 563 people in October 2020, emails started flooding in the following month. Tens of handwritten letters also arrived at the KF’s headquarters in Jeju and its office in Seoul. Handwrit- ten letters, in this day and age, when emails have seemingly taken over! Of course, we read all the messages. Some brought smiles to my face, and I felt that once COVID-19 will be overcome, I would really like to meet the senders in person and listen to their stories. Those who adopted a Korean child, those who met each other while serving in Korea and remain happily married until now, those writing books or doing research related to Korea, and so many others who once called Korea their temporary home and still feel some con- nection in their own unique ways. Someone even said that they shared the masks with their local community and shelters. It taught me that the mindset to serve your fellow human being has the beauty of never fading, even after dozens of years. After the New York Times coverage November 21 . I will never forget the feeling of seeing Choe Sang-hun’s arti- cle in the New York Times. Many people that saw the article asked me if I had requested the coverage in the New York Times, but, as may already know, the Times certainly does not publish articles upon request. Thankfully, Ms. Sandra Nathan talked to the New York Times about receiving the survival box and her service in Chuncheon, and her sincere and touching story formed the basis of Mr. Choe’s beautiful article that warmed the hearts of many readers. The article and its resonance with people in the United States then became widely known in Korea. There are a lot of particularly dark stories these days because of COVID-19, and I think Koreans were moved by the fact that there were people who unconditionally helped Korea in the past, and that we were now able to give a small gift in return, with a word of thanks. The story was subsequently reported by over 60 recognized media outlets, and many Ko- reans created videos about it and uploaded them to their YouTube channels. Thousands of comments were posted in response to the articles and You- KF COVID-19 Survival Box for US Peace Corps Volunteers Korea Foundation Assistant Director Eun Sil Jeong