Alyse Marie Allred, a high school student who was an active participant in the South Korea fundraiser last year, let us know she had recently written down some of her reflections about her experience. We include her story with the hope that it will inspire others to conquer their fears and accomplish great things for orphaned and abandoned children.

This story, like all others, does not have a true beginning or ending. A single story, like a piece of rope, is woven tightly of many others--a story such as this.

The point at which I will hence beginning the telling of this tale lies in the city of Gwangju, South Korea, upon the steps of a city motel. Upon these steps my mother was abandoned nearly 40 years ago as an infant. Soon the setting changes, as she was brought at last to the Haeng-Bok Won, an orphanage for abandoned post-war children. Two years passed by, when at last my mother was escorted aboard a plane with two returning missionaries, taking her to her new home in Laie, Hawaii in the United States of America.

Nearly 40 years had passed when finally my mother, Anne Marie Allred, married with five children and living in the state of Utah, was able to return to South Korea and visit the orphanage that she had lived in. With that trip, an idea was started.

It started like any other thing--a simple idea that grows until it is much more than you believed it to be. This new idea, to fundraise for the orphanage that had taken care of my mother in her early years came as a wonderful idea, and a chance to do something out of the ordinary. None of us knew that the solemn utterance of a single word could change the course of our lives forever. "Yes."

None of us really knew what to expect, or even really how to start. As could be expected, we spoke with the director of the Haeng-Bok Won, along with the directors of two other orphanages located in Gwangju: The Young-Shin Won and the Gwangju Infant's Asylum. A rough goal emerged from this: To fundraise a couple thousand dollars to send to the orphanages by the next summer.

Hence the work began, slowly and not always surely, but as we began to see what form our endeavor would truly take, other things came into view. Our goal began to change from the couple thousand dollars that we had originally presented, but as the days and weeks fell away, it soon began to swell. Our hope changed further to $10,000 dollars, only a third of what it would become eventually, but not enough for it to go unnoticed by the state.

Our first large obstacle had presented us in the form of the legalities of the nation; we needed a license to do this type of fundraising. The license itself was a good deal of money and took several months to acquire, so we were left with two options: Give up or find a non-profit organization that would allow us to work under their direction. Mom began her search, and soon she had found two different organizations that showed interest in our project: A Child's Hope Foundation and Mothers Without Borders. Through the internet she arranged a meeting with the director of A Child's Hope Foundation, leaving us with a day of persistent worry. "How did it go?" was among the first questions that we asked her when we got home. All tension was relieved as she smiled and told us that A Child's Hope Foundation would work with us on our project.

Time advanced on us once again as summer drew near. By this point in time, Mom had contacted hundreds of people through e-mail, by telephone, and through the brochures we had created. A Child's Hope Foundation was registered in 15 states, allowing us to spread these brochures around through the friends and family that were located in multiple areas. Here in Utah we had set up a jar in the Korean Market in Provo, and contacted the owner of one of the only Korean Newspapers. Because of the generosity of this man, our ad for the fundraiser was published in every weekly newspaper from that point on. Later we found that he was also the leader of the Korean branch of the Presbyterian Church that was located here in Utah and through his help and kindnesses, many good things happened. By this point, not only had donations begun to come in, but we then realized that a goal of raising $30,000 dollars had become a possibility.

As April drew closer, so did the next step in our fundraiser. We had been planning on holding a Hawaiian Plate Lunch Sale, a commonality from her island home, but through a twist of fate her course was changed from the restaurant that had been willing to host us, to back to her hometown. Flying on Standby, there was a risk of not making an overcrowded plane and missing the dates that had been set, but when she reached Las Vegas, her layover, we were relieved to find that the plane was being piloted by my Uncle, making it almost a certain thing that she was to reach the island of Oahu by the allotted time. In a single day we had raised $1000 dollars, advancing us another step towards our ultimate goal. Several days later, Mom caught her plane home.

There was not much time to rest, for as it was, time was running short and we felt worry that we would be unable to reach our goal. From the lists that had been given us of the three orphanages, we could see that we would be able to buy a good amount of the items intended. "But was it enough?" The question seemed to ring unmercifully about our minds, since time was running short.

May was running its course and its end, taking with it the school season and bringing the task of the next part of the fundraiser. This part lay heavily on me as well as my mother, since I was to help organize. Before it had been Hawaiian Plate Lunch Sale, but now our fundraising style had made a change. Our new project: a Yard Sale/Bake Sale. Our first challenge was to find a place to hold such an event, several things making it impossible to do so. It did not take Mom long to find a place: Pioneer Park, located in American Fork. The next step was perhaps the most terrifying for me: We needed to contact the several wards of the LDS church and ask for donations of clothing and food. These efforts were coordinated through the assistance of the Relief Society Presidents. We set up the date in which we could come and ask to collect these donations. In a single day, I was forced to face my fears of public speaking. The week before this fundraiser was spent phoning those who had committed to assist us, and before long our house was filled with the odds and ends that others had donated.