Recently, the expat community in Seoul has shown extraordinary effort in supporting causes through fundraisers that not only give people a chance to 'give back', but they're a lot of fun.

In the wake of recent bad press in the realm of expat gambling, 7luck Poker has stepped up to sponsor 2 charity events; the first of which was a Bear Benefit on August 15th, and the second, which will be held at 1:00pm on September 5th, will support Jae Chun Children’s Home . The Hilton Poker Room is committed to supporting local communities through grants, in-kind donations; community outreach and employee volunteer programs. You can help them succeed (and possibly walk away with some extra pocket money). For more information on Jae Chun, visit www.cchkorea.org

If you live in Pusan and are looking for a good time and a contribution to the bear bile situation across Asia, check out the Groove Magazine-sponsored event "Bingo for Bears" at The Basement, PNU, on September 5, beginning at 9pm. The event will feature drunken Bingo, prizes, T-shirts and LOADS of shenanigans, and all proceeds will go to moonbears.org and the "Save Miracle the Bear Fund". A win-win for all…and a nice change from the Seoul pub scene. Worth the trip to Busan, and you may even catch that famous sunrise at the beach!

Calling all performance artists, Seoul experts, photographers, video makers and anyone else out for a good time!

Looking for a cool way to spend a Saturday that doesn't involve standard dancing and drinking? Check out The Seoul Writers' Workshop Scavenger Hunt 2009!

Show off your creative talents on Saturday, September 12 - there will be twenty items to collect, twenty photos/videos to be taken and twenty riddles/questions to be answered.

Start time is 12:30pm for a 1pm 'Go!' at Hello Beans Cafe, Itaewon (Exit 1 Itaewon Station, walk straight - it is between the Nike and Adidas Stores). Finish time will be 6pm at Tony's Aussie Bar and Bistro, Itaewon. Points to be tallied and winners announced as soon as tally is completed (by 7pm). If you're interested in trying your luck, sign up and bring a friend (or several; teams may consist of up to 5 members). Members of the winning team will each receive a prize pack including vouchers, books, tickets to events towards the end of the year and stacks more goodies!
Entry is 8,000 won per person OR for 10,000 receive a pre-purchase coupon for the 2009 edition of Every Second Sunday (the SWW anthology) and entry to the scavenger hunt.

Profits from the event will be going to MoonBears.org (working to stop the bear bile trade in Korea) and the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Centre (advocacy and support for Korean nationals and foreigners who are subject to sexual violence). RSVP

Nothing like a good time that 'does someone good'.