Meet Your Fort Lee Neighbor: KAAFL President Gina Yoon

I recently sat down with Gina Yoon, president of the Korean American Association of Fort Lee (KAAFL). Gina was born and raised in South Korea and immigrated to the United States in October 1987 at the age of 20. 

Gina’s father was working in New York City for a Korean broadcasting company, and he sent for his wife and three daughters to join him in the United States.  When learning of her journey to America, she was very excited for the opportunity to move here.

Gina said she would read about the “American Dream” and the “opportunity to succeed” in newspapers and by watching TV. She was taught that “if you work hard in America, you could achieve great things.” 

There was less opportunity in South Korea at that time, Yoon said.

Although she was excited to embark on her new adventure, it was bittersweet because of the extended family members and friends she was leaving behind. Gina and her family arrived in the United States and settled in Fort Lee. Her initial experience in America turned out to be “scary” and “lonely” because of the language and culture, she said.

Communicating and travelling were very difficult for her and gave her a feeling of being isolated. Gina did not want to come into contact with anyone she did not know because she couldn’t speak English. In her early days in Fort Lee, Gina wanted to return to South Korea because she found day-to-day life so difficult. 

In an effort to overcome her isolation, Gina enrolled at Bergen Community College and learned English. As her ability to speak the language improved, her life improved in Fort Lee. Her social life got better, and she was more confident in her ability to go out and engage with people.

She went to work for a travel agency in Fort Lee, and part of her job was to travel into Manhattan to bring passport renewals and documents to the South Korean Consulate. Gina once again overcame a fear of travelling into New York because of its reputation for crime and danger and became a regular traveler into the city.

She became proficient in English and moved on to another job as a secretary and administrator for a doctor’s office in Fort Lee.

Gina met her husband at Bergen Community College, and they were married and moved to Fair Lawn in 1993. In 2007, she and her family, including two sons, returned to Fort Lee, and she became a very active member of the Fort Lee community.

One of the organizations that Gina became involved with was KPAC, a school organization for parents from South Korea.

Gina explained that under former Superintendent Dr. Alan Sugarman, “The KPAC was created to have a liaison between the schools and the Korean community to foster more parental participation in the Fort Lee Public Schools.”

Gina was asked to lead the KPAC but she felt she needed more time to learn about the needs of the organization and ease back into the community.

She then went to her first PTA meeting and noticed that there were few members from the Korean community in attendance. Gina went back to the KPAC to encourage more Korean participation in the PTA. She told the KPAC that the original intent was to get Korean parents involved in the various PTAs and not to become a stand-alone organization.

Gina acknowledged, “Many Korean parents are intimidated to go to PTA meetings because of language difficulties.”  

She said that Korean participation in the PTAs has improved but that “it needs to get better.”

In 2008, she became president of KPAC for all the elementary schools in Fort Lee.  As president, Gina helped provide information to parents about the schools and strongly encouraged them to get involved in the PTAs. 

She also said that Korean parents may be reluctant to speak up or be critical about a school related issue for fear that it would negatively impact their child. She explained to them that this would not be the case. 

Gina also said that in Korea, a wife is expected to be home when her husband is home to prepare meals and tend to the family. Gina has tried to tell her members that “it is okay if your husband feeds himself once a month,” so that at least one parent can attend a PTA or school board meeting. 

During her tenure at KPAC, Gina’s primary message was to help members help themselves and stressed that parents should learn English and get involved in school organizations and the community at large. Gina was president for one year before Christina Yoo assumed the role of KPAC president.

After her leadership role at KPAC, Gina became involved as a booster for the Fort Lee High School Marching Band. Gina’s son, along with about 160 other students, is in the band. She helped the band during competitions by organizing food and transportation, altering and repairing uniforms, transporting instruments and in some cases even driving the equipment truck.

In 2011, Gina became president of KAAFL, replacing previous president Andrew Kim. The role of president is an unpaid, yet demanding position. Gina said that the mission of KAAFL, which was formed in 1999, is “to give a voice to members of the Korean community who have issues and/or requests with the municipality of Fort Lee.”

If a member of the community wants to open a business in Fort Lee, the KAAFL will offer assistance in navigating the rules and regulations of the town and provide needed information. KAAFL has a hotline for people who need assistance; the number is 201-944-9948.

The KAAFL also assists families that are new to Fort Lee, helping to register their children in school and acting as a liaison between their members and the municipality.

KAAFL holds regular meetings every Tuesday at lunchtime. They hold their meetings at various restaurants in Fort Lee to help support local businesses, both Korean and non-Korean dining establishments. The KAAFL distributes a weekly newsletter in Korean and English that contains information about current events in Fort Lee.

Gina elaborated that she believes her mission is to make KAAFL part of the Fort Lee family and not a separate, isolated organization. 

As she begins the second year of her term, Gina wants to get to know the leaders of Fort Lee and plans to meet with many of them in the near future. KAAFL also holds a charity golf event in June, voter registration drives and awards scholarships to high school students. They also sponsor an annual seminar called “More Than Myself” to emphasize the importance of contributing to the community and volunteering for the benefit of the entire community.

At this point in the conversation, we were joined by Kathy Lee, vice president of KAAFL. Kathy said that this is the first time KAAFL is headed up by women in the top roles. Kathy and Gina said they will carry on the same mission; however, they have used different methods of communicating with the community.

Kathy explained that the Korean population in Fort Lee has grown rapidly in the past 10 years and is a relatively new immigrant group to Fort Lee. Many are newcomers and first generation immigrants. 

These new immigrants, like immigrants from a hundred years ago, need assistance assimilating into their new country and community, and they typically turn to members of their own heritage for help, Lee said. Kathy noted that during Dr. Sugarman’s tenure, on many occasions, documents sent home from school were translated into Korean as an accommodation.

However she believes that the greatest accommodation we can supply is to teach new immigrants English so they can become fully integrated into the community.

She continued, “It is not practical to translate documents into several languages because there are so many different cultures within Fort Lee.”

Kathy suggested that an organization of volunteers be organized to provide translation services for people who need help reading various documents. 

She emphasized that integrating the Korean population into the greater Fort Lee community will take time but needs to start somewhere. Along those lines, she believes they have made great strides in getting involved in VFW events, reaching out to other organizations and encouraging participation in community events such as the Thomas Paine fundraiser.

Kathy encourages people outside the Korean community to initiate contact and to have an understanding of how difficult it is for someone to learn a new language and culture. 

“If everyone works together, it will only benefit Fort Lee for years to come,” she said.

Gina and Kathy also discussed planning a large outdoor event bringing many different Fort Lee groups and organizations together to foster greater friendship and citizenship.

Thanks to Gina and Kathy for their efforts.