A Hardworking, Loving Grandfather's Store Looted

UPDATE 4 - A thank you letter

Many of you have reached out personally to ask how my uncle has been doing and I am so blessed to be surrounded by people who care for others in the midst of their own lives. My uncle sent me an update earlier this month that I had a chance to translate. I have posted the update below as well as on the site with some pictures. He is so thankful for ALL of the prayers and support the community has poured out to them. Unfortunately, his store had a break in again (this time they broke through the wall). However, their store is open and they are back in business and it is all thanks to all of you who have continued to pour out prayers and support to him and my family.

Please continue to pray for my uncle as he works to support his family and the community around him to get their stores up and running as well.

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UPDATE FROM MY UNCLE:
A thank you letter to all of the donors.

Today, I would like to share with you happy, bad, and good news with you all.

First, I will start with the good news. On July 3, with the help of many loving people, we were able to able to have a reopening with about 60% of our merchandise after the May 31 incident.

For one month, we prepared all month to get the store up to 90% of its merchandise. We know that there are still many around us that can’t reopen, so we are so thankful for family and friends that helped so that we could open first. We are so thankful to everyone who has helped out in many different ways, through prayers, support, physical help, and financially.

Unfortunately, on August 1, around 4:30 pm, we had another break in. Three people were caught on camera looting our store again. Through the help of family and friends, we were able to fix the wall that they tore down and get the store  cleaned up after the incident. On August 2, we were able to open and will continue to work hard in continuing our business.

Once again, I would like to say thank you for all of your help and support during this time.

후원인 여러분께 감사편지...
오늘은 기쁜,나쁜,좋은소식을 후원인 여러분께 전하고져 합니다.
먼저 기쁜소식은 5월31일 사건이후 전혀모르는분을 포함 많은분들로 부터 아름답고 사랑이 담뿍 담긴마음과 정성스럽게 보내주신 물질적 도움으로 7월3일 60%정도 준비된상태로 가게을 Reopening 하였습니다.
한달동안 가족들과 열심히 사업 준비를 하여 7월말에는 정상에 90%까지 준비하였습니다.
많은업체가 아직도 Reopening 하지 못하고 있습니다.
여러분에 많은 도움으로 우리는 먼저 오픈할수 있었습니다.
여러모로 도움주신 여러분께 저희들은 진심으로 감사드립니다.
두번째 나쁜소식은 8월1일 오전4시30분에 또 3명에 도둑으로 부터 우리가게가 또 피해를 당했습니다..
도둑들은 저희가게 5중 벽 (3개 브럭벽, 2개 보드벽)을 부수고 칩입 하였습니다.
3번째로 좋은소식은 2번째 사고후 가족들과 친구들이 부서진 벽도 고치고, 흩어진 가게도 정리하여
8월2일부터 다시 오픈하여 영업을 시작 하였습니다.
앞으로 더욱 열심히 노력하고 봉사하며 생활 하겠습니다.
다시한번 후원인 여러분께 진심으로 감사드립니다.


















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UPDATE 3 - Hello fellow supporters. Thank you so much for all of your kind words of encouragement and prayers as my uncle has been working day in and day out to clean his store and work. He sent me some pictures over the weekend and I wanted to share them with all of you. He is working daily to get his store ready to open again in the near future.

We are continuing to pray for those who have been affected during this time. We also are so grateful for each and every one  of you who has supported my family during this difficult time. 

We have also started to work on setting up the beneficiary for this GoFundMe. All of the funds raised will go directly to my uncle to help him with his store. 












UPDATE - June 6, 2020

Thank you to all who have been so generous to support my uncle as well as sharing this GoFundMe page. I know some of you have asked some questions and I would like to share more information.

1. How is the campaign organizer related to the intended recipient of the donations?
I (Cathy Park) am the Small Business Owners' (SiChoon Chang) niece. Kwijin and Jinah are his children and are my cousins.  They are also team members on this fundraising campaign. 

2. What is the purpose of the campaign and how will the funds be used?
The purpose of the funds are to help cover for losses of stolen merchandise and to help with any repairs or costs involved in rebuilding the business again from this terrible event. My uncle has some insurance for his story, but it is not much to cover the costs of all that he lost in this store. 

3. Are direct family and friends making donations and leaving supportive comments?
Yes, my family and friends are making donations. I am still working on why the comments are not working. I apologize since this is my first GoFundMe site I have put together. 

4. Is the intended recipient in control of the withdrawals? 
Yes the intended recipient (SiChoon Chang) will receive the funds directly from GoFundMe or if any direct donations are made to me, I will give them straight to my uncle. 

We know that there is so much going on with everyone and will continue to join in prayer and support for everyone during this time as you have generously done for me and my family during this time.




When I think of my uncle, SiChoon Chang, my earliest memory of him was him smiling at me and asking me what I wanted to eat. He was always giving my sister and I various things and wanted to support us in any part of our lives growing up. He immigrated to America with his family to provide them with more opportunities here.

Being in America and having to support his family and continually help take care of his mother, my grandma, he did it always with a smile. He worked tirelessly in every job he had, but you never knew how hard it was because he only smiled and laughed with us. When he opened his beauty supply store, there were many family gatherings, he would arrive late from being at the store, but he always walked in the door with a smile to see his grandkids and family, even after a long day at work. That was my uncle. He was happy to be with those he loved and always wanted to do what he could to love on them more.

His heart and hardworking attitude didn’t just extend to his own family, but to the Korean community as well. In his free time, he organized and sponsored a tennis league where he coached and mentored other Korean adults in tennis. He has also set up golf outings and various activities for the Korean community in Chicago. He continued to give back to the community using his skills and talents. 

I was deeply saddened to find out that his beauty supply store on the Southside of Chicago was looted this past week. The countless hours he spent there to help make a life for his family and now his grandkids was destroyed in a matter of hours. My mom told me that he couldn’t do anything but watch from a video, the years of hard work that he had poured into this store. When I reached out to see how he was doing, his reply was that he knew everything was going to be okay. Even in his most difficult time, he was being positive.

There is so much that he probably needed to do to help his own store and get things back up. However, he developed a committee to help other businesses around him that were also struck by this tragedy to rally up support and help for each of the businesses. He was thinking of others again and wanting to help the community around him.

What’s most depressing is to think that after all these years of hard work and planning, my uncle at the age of 64 has to start all over again.  This was his family's retirement plan  and now instead of retiring he has to start all over again. It’s so sad at my uncle's age that he has to endure this pain but tears come to my eyes when I see him fighting to survive and continue to even press on even in his devastated state.

So, we wanted to reach out to our community to see if we can support my uncle financially as he works to rebuild his store as well as continue to support and help the community around him. Would you consider supporting my uncle?


Korean Interview on recent looting of his store 

Korean Interview on the committee my uncle organized