Smilegate Foundation and Team Tapas to provide smart equipment for onl… 2020-05-18

 

■ Providing learning opportunities for visually impaired children, who are disadvantaged as classes go online due to COVID-19

■ Smilegate Orange Farm alum, Team Tapas, and co-sponsors present a case for virtuous giving

<Smilegate Foundation and the game developer, Team Tapas, has provided 10 million KRW to buy smart equipment to help visually impaired children with their online classes through the underprivileged children's charity, Heart to Heart International. May 15 (Fri) donation presentation ceremony at the Seoul National School for the Blind in Jongno-gu, Seoul. (From the left) Heart to Heart International Secretary-General Jina Jang, Team Tapas CEO Taehee Lim, Seoul National School for the Blind Principal Eunjoo Kim> 

 

[2020-0518] In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is making regular schooling difficult and schools are pushing classes online, Smilegate Foundation revealed that they have donated 10 million KRW to buy smart equipment that helps visually impaired children with their online classes.

This donation comes from "Team Tapas," an alum of Smilegate Group's university student entrepreneurship support program, Smilegate Membership, and youth startup incubation center, Orange Farm. The donation was conducted through Heart to Heart International, a support institution for underprivileged children. 

Team Tapas' consecutive box office hits, from "A Girl Adrift," a mobile open world fishing game, to "Bistro Heroes," an RPG (role playing game) that won last year's Indie Game of the Year from the Korea Game Awards, are garnering them attention as a promising game developer. 

This recent donation of smart equipment for visually impaired children comes from early this year's game item production funding event for players of Bistro Heroes. The total earnings from the event was given to Smilegate Foundation for this cause. This donation is especially meaningful because it is a collective effort by Smilegate Foundation, a Smilegate entrepreneurship program (Orange Farm) beneficiary, and game players to help children fall through the gaps of social welfare programs. 

In other words, Team Tapas grew because of Orange Farm, and was able to launch a high quality game and hold a donation event with the players. And such, Team Tapas was able to give back to society with a "virtuous act of giving." Along with this, in March, Team Tapas pledged to be a part of the effort to help those that were harmed by COVID-19 and donated 10 million KRW to Smilegate Foundation. 

Smilegate Foundation has partnered with Heart to Heart International to use the 10 million KRW donated by Team Tapas to buy tablet computers and other smart equipment and get them to the visually impaired children at Seoul National School for the Blind and other special needs schools as quickly as possible. 

"As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, a lot of classes are going online, we were able to send a donation to help bridge the educational divide of the visually impaired children that fall in the gaps of social welfare programs," said Smilegate Foundation Head Yunjoo Kwon, "Smilegate Foundation will continue to work with Smilegate social contribution beneficiaries and gamers to help more people that fall in the gaps of social welfare programs." 

"I would like to thank all Bistro Heroes players for participating in this donation," said Team Tapas CEO Taehee Lim, "We are very happy to have held such a meaningful donation event with Smilegate Foundation and the players of our game."

Meanwhile, Smilegate has donated an additional 1.2 billion KRW related to COVID-19, to medical personnel and medical facilities in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do, children's welfare facilities in Seongnam, and temporary living facilities for overseas Koreans. Also, Smilegate will continue to look for places that need support and plans to continue various types of donations.