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Frankie & Tia Legoski are the founders of a Southern California-based non-profit organization, Amerasian Unity Foundation (A.U.F.), that was created to unite all Amerasians, regardless of age, race or gender. The primary objectives for A.U.F. is to act as an Amerasian support group, help in family search, support Amerasians in obtaining US citizenship, racial harmony events, prison ministry & crime prevention workshops, social networking and humanitarian relief programs. When asked how A.U.F. was created, Tia said, “In April 2007 we met Pastor Kim and Mrs. Kim for the very first time. They had read an article on us (Frankie & I) in the Korea Times and Mrs. Kim requested to meet us. When we met, we found out that they were part of a prison ministry program City Of Refuge Mission (COR). At that meeting they informed us that there were a couple of Amerasians currently incarcerated in state prison and that they didn’t have any family or friends to visit them. They tried so hard to reach out to them but they were having a hard time connecting with Amerasians. During our discussion we found out that one of the people in prison is a friend of our friend and that other person is an Amerasian adoptee. I never knew that any of our Amerasians were in the state penitentiary. It was an eye opening experience for me. It was that day that we made our decision to join COR Mission. Our compassionate feelings for Amerasians didn’t start or stop there. One of the Amerasians living in Maryland asked us to locate his birth father for him and we were able to locate his father and he reunite them for the first time in 50 plus years (on July 4th of 2009). In the last 3 years we have been assisting a 25 year old Amerasian from Korea to find a way to receive U.S citizenship and he reached his goal in December 2009. While we were volunteering we were asked by a few people if we were a non-profit organization. We thought about registering before but we were not sure we could commit. In the meantime, we were still doing the charity work and some friends wanted to support us and some wanted to participate in our cause. We finally made the decision to establish a non-profit organization so our sponsors could claim income tax deductions. We then named our organization the Amerasian Unity Foundation (A.U.F.). A.U.F.’s goal is to bring unity among Amerasians and to others.” An upcoming project that A.U.F. is working on is the Journey to Motherland (J.T.M.) trip to Korea. The first J.T.M. trip will be from 5/23/2010-6/6/2010. Tia speaks passionately about J.T.M., “One of the main purposes for the Journey to Motherland trip is to help find lost mothers and family members especially for those Amerasians who got adopted to American and European families. Also, we’d like to introduce Korean culture to those who were born in the USA or came here at very early age. We would like to promote friendship and a bond between the two countries. In commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Korean War in 2010, we Amerasians would like to give appreciation to two beautiful and distinctive cultures which we Amerasians received at our birth.” Although A.U.F. was founded in 2009 and is relatively new as an organization, Frankie & Tia have much experience with Amerasian issues and with their great ambition they are promoting our mixed Korean and Amerasian people in a positive light. For more information regarding the Amerasian Unity Foundation and the Journey to Motherland program, please check out AmerasianUnityFoundation.org Back to Spotlight |
 Amerasian Unity Foundation |
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