Dear Students & Family,
It is with great pride and joy that I bring this announcement to you in the new year.
As Hwa Rang Do® practitioners, we believe that meeting the basic needs of people – providing food, shelter, clothing and basic medical aid – is not enough to heal the world. Self-esteem and confidence alone, while necessary, are also insufficient for humanity to heal itself. Rather, we believe that only fundamental self-empowerment can change individual lives for the better.
Hwa Rang Do® has, over the course of more than 50 fifty years, built and refined a program of human empowerment that is designed to incrementally transform human beings from timid souls to forceful warriors. This program, draws from over 2,000 years of wisdom and history. These modern Hwa Rang are empowered to meet the challenges of an ever-changing world with virtue and without fear.
You – who practice the art – understand what it does for you and many of you have seen this transformation in individuals you train with, teach, or love. What we are excited about today is a new and improved ability to bring expand this system to the world: the World Hwa Rang Do Association non-profit humanitarian organization.
On November 11th, 2011, leaders of Hwa Rang Do® convened to plan for ways to expand the potential of this art. Coming out of this summit, we then spent two years converting the World Hwa Rang Do Association into a non-profit, humanitarian organization whose mission is to empower the world one person at a time. Read more here. We have gathered a board of directors and a core set of officers to lead the association and have laid out a 24 month strategic plan to help expand the impact of Hwa Rang Do globally.
We are now asking your support to help fulfill this 24 month strategic plan designed to further solidify the World Hwa Rang Do Association for growth so that it can expand the impact this system of human development to the world.
Through the funding mechanisms available to non-profit organizations, we will implement a series of strategic initiatives and infrastructure projects to expand the humanitarian impact of the World Hwa Rang Do Association. We share examples of our plan here.
- Supporting our instructors and school owners in the management of their Academies
- Developing a professional instructor program to help & support committed individuals who seek successful careers in the guiding human beings to greater empowerment
- Establishing training scholarships for low-income and at risk youth
- Engaging the public in community-based initiatives
- Developing a fully-fledged youth leadership program
- Launching an academic Charter School
- Funding humanitarian efforts internationally
Already, students and instructors have taken the initiative to begin the types of works the World Hwa Rang Do Association hopes to directly sponsor. These include initiatives such as:
- Traveling to war-torn Angola in 2009 to reduce the impact of oppressive militias (led by the Italian Branch instructors)
- Launching a youth leadership development program in Minneapolis through after school & camp programming
- Establishing a Scholarships Program in 2012 through the Peace Core in Southern Mexico (led by TSD black belt Christian Latino)
- Developing a leadership development program through Hwa Rang Do® in 2013 at the Wan SnolBag Youth Center in Vanuatu, a country in the South Pacific (led by Jason Ritenour and his wife – also supported by the Peace Corps)
We hope that in 2014 and with your strong contribution, we can fulfill our vision and expand the impact of Hwa Rang Do globally.
Providing leadership and guidance is our Board and Officer core listed here.
Our Board Members:
Dr. Joo Bang Lee – Chairman & Founder
Grandmaster Taejoon Lee
Dr. Andrew Weil
Dr. Richard Downie
Master David Kijek
Master Yong Suk Kim
Officers:
Grandmaster Taejoon Lee – President
Instr. Dylan Sirny – Vice-President
Instr. William Wright – Fundraising & Treasurer
Instr. Douglas Purvis – Secretary
Dr. Janet Lee – Administrative Officer
Fernando Ceballos – Operations/PR
Please support in whatever amount you can. Obviously, the bigger the better! But any amount is welcome. All contributions are tax deductible and will count towards your 2014 tax filings.
We look forward to bringing you more news about our new initiatives for 2014 very soon.
Hwarang Forever,
The World Hwa Rang Do Association
on Behalf of:
Hwa Rang Do Founder & Chairman, Dr. Joo Bang Lee
WHRDA President, Grandmaster Taejoon Lee