Due to such turbulent circumstances in Silicon Valley regarding the pandemic of Covid-19, Hwarang Silicon Valley district members organized a project to distribute daily supplies to homeless people through San Jose City Team on May 22, at the yard of the president of the Saratoga Chapter- such as toilet paper, toothbrush/toothpaste, hand sanitizer, and home-made masks. The Covid Project from Hwarang first launched at the beginning of April by Saratoga Chapter members, and the scale of the project was extended to 3 other Silicon Valley chapters to further help more people in need.

The Hwarang members in Silicon Valley district decided to gather the supplies by contacting their physicians, dentists, and other local hospitals, and they also reached out to local churches to further spread their positivity through the project.

“It was hard to buy enough hand sanitizers through any stores or online markets because of such high demand, so we decided to buy alcohol and sanitizer bottles separately to save the budget and make products at the same time,” the President of Saratoga Chapter Stephen Kwak said.

The Vice-president of the Silicon Valley District Jaeseong Lee also mentioned the fact that not everyone is guaranteed to have security and food to sustain their lives motivated him to contribute what he can do to bring warmness to society even during a hard time.

The essential items collected from the chapters in Hwarang will be donated to Cityteam with replaceable filters for masks and other items packed in separate bags for each person (packing more than 100 bags in total). The Hwarang members also previously partnered with Cityteam to donate blankets for the homeless during the last winter.

Hwarang Youth Foundation has continued to spread its purpose of “bettering the community” through Guatemala Eye Vision Camp as well as their hard work in volunteering during summer in South America

<Junseong Lee / Saratoga High School 11th>