Shin Eon-im: The Remarkable Story of the Street Vendor Who Became an Education Philanthropist

The late Ms. Shin Eon-im, who died after donating 5.1 billion won of her entire fortune from street vending to Chungbuk National University, smiles brightly while sitting on campus with Chungbuk National University students in 2011. /University Chungbuk National Park

“I have another mother that I love.”

At around 10 am on the morning of the 22nd, in the main hall of the campus of Chungbuk National University, a middle-aged man with gray hair read a letter with tears in his eyes. I missed my mother desperately. Sobs could be heard everywhere. The mother in the letter is the late Shin Eon-im (91), who died on the 19th after donating all her life savings from street vending as a scholarship to Chungbuk National University. Ham Yeong-gyu (53 years old, Procuratorate official), born in 1990, Department of Public Administration, graduated with a scholarship, read a eulogy.

The funeral of Ms. Shin, who died as an education philanthropist and called “the mother of Chungbuk National University”, was held at Chungbuk National University on this day with the honor of the president of Chungbuk National University . At her funeral, about 100 people, including President Ko Chang-seop, mourners, faculty, graduates and students, gathered to bid farewell to Ms. Shin on her final journey.

Secretary Ham said, “My mother did not eat, did not spend, and gave all the money she had worked hard to save to students who considered her her children before she left. She would say goodbye to me on holidays, birthdays, and other anniversaries , and sometimes she came on trips with me and treated me like a mother, but I think about her too much: “I’m crying,” she sobbed.

It was in 1993 that Ms. Shin, who had lived alone all her life without children, established a relationship with Chungbuk National University through donations. At that time, Ms. Shin donated a building worth 3 billion won in Nammun-ro, Cheongju. Chungbuk National University sold this building for 3.3 billion won in 2008 and is using it for scholarships for needy students.

Ms. Shin did not have any particular history with Chungbuk National University. We only know that she started donating because of the difficult life of not being able to learn and the sadness of not having children. An official from Chungbuk National University said: “I think they came to our university because it represents their hometown. She “she has always thought of our university students as her children”.

Ms. Shin was born in Ochang, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, in 1932 during the Japanese colonial period, the fifth child of eight daughters and the first son of a poor farmer. I had a difficult childhood. He graduated from Juseong Elementary School at the age of 18, where he entered late after begging his father. My first job was in a monopoly office and I got married at the age of 22. However, since she could not have children, she suffered all kinds of pain and she was left alone at a young age. It is said that at one point she even tried to kill herself, but she again decided to at least pay a ransom for having given birth to her parents.

He started by selling valuable cigarettes (individual cigarettes) at the entrance of a traditional market in Cheongju. Thereafter, she ran the Manmul Store and worked hard to save money. However, she was called a “stingy grandmother” who didn’t spend a single penny on herself.

In addition to donating a building to Chungbuk National University, Ms. Shin donated 1.03 billion won in 2011, marking the 60th anniversary of the school’s founding, and 800 million won in 2018. Each time money was saved , was distributed. The total amount of money delivered to Chungbuk National University amounts to 5.13 billion won.

Chungbuk National University established the “Shin Eon-im Scholarship”, the “Shin Eon-im Filial Loyalty and Piety Scholarship” and the “Shin Eon-im School of Law Scholarship” entitled to the deceased, and is providing scholarships worth about 50 million won to 10 students per year. So far, 103 students have received scholarships. Ms. Shin completed the Women’s Leadership Course at Chungbuk National University’s Graduate School of Public Administration and received an honorary doctorate of public administration.

Chungbuk National University named the newly built Continuing Education Center auditorium “Shineonim Hall” in 2015. And here, when he was 88 years old, he held a misu-yeon (米壽宴) party, and when he was 90 years old, he held a 90th birthday party.

Ms. Shin also received the 33rd “Kim Man-deok Award” in 2012. Kim Man-deok (1739-1812), a Jeju merchant, spent her fortune to distribute grains purchased during a famine in Jeju to the people in 1794. The award established to honor her is the “Kim Man-deok Award”‘.

The first recipients of Ms. Shin’s scholarship, Jang Byeong-jun (54) and Lee Jeong-ok (53), said: “We met my mother and became husband and wife. She treated us like her children, and Even though she died, we were a noble couple.” “I will forever honor my mother, who sacrificed her life to spread her love to over 100 children,” she said.

At Ms. Shin’s funeral, scholarship students who had formed a relationship with her as parents and children stayed for three days and served in mourning. On this day, he was buried at Seonyeong, a memorial to support campus education, and as she always wished, he will forever be with Chungbuk National University.

#Donation #KRW #billion #earned #street #vending.. #Mother #Chungbuk #National #University #falls #asleep #campus