Story of 6.25 Foundation
The 6.25 Foundation was established with the goals of honoring the fallen soldiers of the Korean War (June 25, 1950 – July 27, 1953) and expressing the gratitude of the Korean people to the people of America. We aim to do so by supporting elementary level literacy more broadly, so that America’s youngest generations may better understand the importance of those soldiers’ sacrifices and of liberty.
The Foundation partners with elementary school libraries in a fallen soldier’s hometowns. We offer them a one-time donation to augment their K-5 resources, and to name the children’s section of their buildings after the soldier. In addition to honoring the soldier, we hope the naming helps American grade school children feel connected to someone from their town who, in some cases when he was not much older than they, perished in a war for democracy in a faraway land called Korea.
The Foundation typically seeks out schools with lower reading grades, as a way to maximize the impact of its funding. The libraries usually purchase new volumes of age-appropriate nonfiction; they may also use the funds to create a reading space for children if they don’t already have one. Some of the libraries and schools have built upon the initial gift by creating related programming. One school, for example, celebrated “Korea Month,” every day of which the librarian shared a new fact or custom about (South) Korea.
The first soldier honored was Cpl. Richard L. Bolognani, a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 279th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division. He and thirty other soldiers were drowned by a flash flood while crossing the river near Inje on August 18, 1952. The Foundation donated $5,000 in his name to the Readsboro Community Library, in Bennington, Vermont, on October 29, 2020. With the donation, the library was able to repurpose an existing space and create The Corporal Bolognani Children’s Reading Room.
The delivery of the donations has become an occasion in itself for the Foundation to raise awareness. We have visited the recipient libraries in person and presented the check, along with a handmade plaque for the children’s section, during dedication ceremonies attended by the local schoolchildren, teachers, and respective school board representatives.
At each visit, we have always been received warmly and enthusiastically. We are very grateful for that. Many schools are located far from where we are, in Rupert, Vermont. We drive with joy and admiration for the beauty of America: the mountains of Tennessee, great plains of Wyoming, scenic Idaho, hills of West Virginia, historic towns of Mississippi, the Grand Canyon State of Arizona, the industrial state of Michigan, and many trails that built America. Sometimes the roundtrip journey has been 2,000 miles, and other times as much as 7,000 and 10,000 miles.
We hope to cover all 50 State by November 2024
for us to remember the cost, what we paid for freedom — especially when we see what is going
on in Ukraine today.” “It is our great privilege and happiness that we are able to chip in a little
bit, to help their education, to help them learn about the past so they can build on the future.”
From The Daily Journal