Companionship, fitness pull Korean elders together

Wednesdays are special days for Tong Lee, 73, and Heui Kon Kim, 81.
It is the day Korean elders meet at the Lacey Senior Center for lunch and a few hours of socializing and music.

In their native land, the two gentlemen might never have met. Lee was a government bureaucrat in Seoul and Kim was a business owner and community leader in a small city north of Seoul.

At the senior center, the two nattily dressed men chat with a roomful of people who also speak their language and share their culture.

The program is one of several that Senior Services for South Sound hosts in an attempt to reach out to Thurston County's ethnic communities.

Every week, 20 to 30 Korean elders who live in north Thurston County are picked up at home and transported to the center, where they exercise for about 15 minutes before sitting down to a lunch served by volunteers.

"I wish I was younger, so I could be more active," Su Yon Lee, 83, said to Yon Clare, who translated her remarks into English.

But she enthusiastically joins in the low-impact exercises, and the sparkle in her eyes indicates a lively spirit.

Su Yon Lee, who owned a grocery store in South Korea, came to the United States 20 years ago, but most of her companions immigrated within the past 10 to 15 years.

Clare said most of the elders were brought to the United States by their children who, like her, had immigrated 30 years ago. When they got settled, many brought members of their family.

Home alone

Much of the time, the elders are home alone because their children own businesses and work long hours and their grandchildren are in school, Clare said.

Before the Lacey Senior Center opened about a year ago, the elders met at the Korean Women's Association. Volunteers went out and picked them up in a car, which required many trips.

Now the center provides transportation, a larger space for the elders to socialize and lunch served by volunteers like Shin Kyle, whose mother, Ki Kim, 80, participates.

"She is interested in coming every Wednesday here," Kyle said.

The elders enjoy the American food served at the center, Clare said.

On Wednesday, the menu included a beautifully prepared white fish, which Kim and Lee pronounced delicious.

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