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Korean American woman leaves more than 100K in her will to Center for Seniors Chicago

March 25, 2015

A Korean American woman was found to have left more than $100,000 to a senior center in her will before passing last December.

Yong O. Kim left $104,191 to the Center for Seniors Chicago, which received from her lawyer a letter from Kim containing the check and a request that they keep her donation a secret, the center said in a press conference earlier this month.

“We were so surprised, we couldn’t believe it at first,” said center manager Ha Jae-kwan. “After calling her lawyer to make sure, it was all true.”

He said they asked about Kim but that the lawyer told them she had wanted to make the donation in secret.

Ha said the center had received donations upwards of $10,000 in the past but that this one is the first of such scale since the center’s opening in 1993.

Ha said he believes Kim may have given the donation because of a past connection to a relative who received help from the center.

“We were so thankful that we wanted to let the donation be known to the Korean American community,” Ha said.

The money will be used to help seniors who cannot receive healthcare from the government due to immigration status, he said.