Students filled donation bins in Main Library and Sargent Hall that were dropped off Saturday as part of a spring clothing drive held by the Korean American Student Association and Evanston nonprofit Connections for the Homeless. 

Connections provides shelter and resources to those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Evanston. KASA members donated four bins of new undergarments, pants, tops and sneakers to Connections from the drive and private donations.

KASA has previously held events with several nonprofits, including volunteering with the AKP Sports Foundation to help run a Korean American Soccer Tournament, catered toward the Korean American community. Medill sophomore Rie Kim, KASA’s co-outreach chair, said the organization recently shifted its focus to also include initiatives that benefit the wider Evanston community.

“It’s really easy to get caught up in the Northwestern bubble,” Rie Kim said. “As outreach chairs, we’re always trying to see how we can get out of that bubble and serve the greater Korean Chicagoland community.”

Rie Kim said given NU’s presence in Evanston, KASA chose to donate to Connections to give back to their local community. 

The organization chose to hold the clothing drive during Spring Quarter because people often associate spring with cleaning and decluttering, Rie Kim said. As students move out of Evanston, they may want to make some donations before packing, she added. 

Weinberg senior Christine Kim said she grabbed the chance to donate shirts and sweaters because she had been thinking of donating some of her clothes but did not know where or how to in Evanston.

“As a senior, I’m planning to move out in a couple of months and have a lot of clothes just sitting in my closet from the last four years of college, so I thought it’d be a good opportunity for me,” Christine Kim said.

Weinberg freshman and junior executive outreach member Namoo Hyun said KASA is aiming to serve all communities beyond the Korean American students on campus and is “giving back to communities that might not have the privilege that people at Northwestern have.” 

The organization hopes to continue including other groups into their projects to spread mutual understanding and empathy through cultural programming, he added.

“It’s also an opportunity for us to spread diverse perspectives, which in turn actually would benefit the greater Northwestern community as a whole,” Hyun said. 

In May, KASA will host Culture Week to promote and offer students a chance to “dive into Korean culture,” Hyun said. 

“As students, we have so much that we can bring to the greater community and the spaces that we’re in,” Rie Kim said. 

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