Alumni Spotlight: A Journey from Classmates to Founders
April 09, 2026
Rob Folchi and Emalee Juchniewich (Class of ‘08) both attended Christian Heritage School. Rob attended CHS from K-12 and Emalee from K-3 & 9-12. They first met in morning kindergarten in 1995. In an early memory from that time, Emalee fondly recalls the “Kidvention” assignment given to their class by Mrs. Cordone, where she created a “kid-only TV”. Rob invented a fully-framed miniature door with a working remote control designed to keep parents out of his room. Emalee insisted that Rob’s parents did his homework for him, but Rob vehemently claimed he had designed and built the entire creation himself.
Upon Emalee's return to CHS for high school, she and Rob quickly became close friends, oblivious to Rob's long-term intentions. They spent nearly every waking moment together, inside and outside school, joining the Cross-Country team, Photography club and stage crew together.
One day, during the summer before their senior year, Rob made his move and asked Emalee out. It was then that Emalee realized she was in love with him, after trying to convince herself otherwise to maintain the friendship. The rest, as they say, is history. They married in 2013, just a year after Rob graduated from UConn and seven days before Emalee followed suit.
In the fall of 2016, overwhelmed by the pressure and workload of teaching at an inner-city school, alongside Rob's dissatisfaction in his job, Emalee applied for a teaching position in Japan. Inspired by the testimonies of missionaries at CHS chapel, they both longed to explore the world and live abroad — although their dreams didn’t necessarily include missions work at that time. Unfortunately, due to unexpected circumstances, the position Emalee was supposed to fill did not become available at the last minute, and the job fell through. They were devastated, having prayed earnestly and felt that God was guiding them to leave the country.
The following autumn of 2017, after sudden leadership changes at her school, Emalee applied for a teaching position in South Korea, despite knowing nothing about the food, language, culture, or people. In April 2018, they received notice that her application was accepted and began preparing to completely transform their lives in America for this new adventure into the unknown.
Emalee arrived in July 2018, with Rob following a month later. They quickly immersed themselves in their new surroundings, falling in love with the food, music, and, most importantly, the people. Rob, having taken a leave of absence from his job, found himself with plenty of free time and sought out volunteer opportunities. Learning that South Korea does not operate on a foster care system like the US but rather utilizes orphanages, Rob began an online search for local children's homes and started cold-calling until he connected with someone from a nearby orphanage called Shinmyeong, who spoke a little English.
They eagerly invited him for a meeting, and he began to tutor two sixth graders in English. Admittedly, he felt uncertain about what he was doing, but they laughed together, played games, and used translation apps to communicate. He remained consistent, visiting weekly to help out, and soon the orphanage invited him to share dinner with them, along with his wife, who they had heard so much about. After that dinner, Emalee also fell in love with the children, and in December 2018, after attending the orphanage's Christmas morning service and celebration, they decided to buy Christmas gifts for all the children living there (around 45 kids aged 4–18). This tradition continued until spring 2020, when they felt God calling them back to the States—a revelation that both Rob and Emalee resisted, but ultimately complied with.
What they initially viewed as a painful farewell and the closing of a chapter turned into the inception of the idea for The Kkachi Foundation. This Foundation would provide a travel & visitation program to the United States for students living at a children’s home in South Korea. They would host 4–8 high school students for a 10-day program every summer, and visit various cultural interest sites in New England, listen to testimonies from Korean Americans, practice English, and provide a taste of general American life.
With little more than half an idea and a prayer to practice God’s love towards these extraordinary children, they pitched their concept to the orphanage in the summer of 2020. The orphanage loved the idea but had concerns about logistics and tearfully said goodbye.
Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, it took three years of agonizing, questioning, saving, and most importantly, praying for The Kkachi Foundation to take shape. Finally, in July 2023, they welcomed their first class from Shinmyeong.
Since then, God has led them on a remarkable journey, welcoming three classes through The Kkachi Foundation, speaking at churches about their work, and Emalee retiring from full-time teaching in June 2024 to dedicate more time to Kkachi. In February 2025, they returned to South Korea for the graduation and independence ceremony of the Kkachi class of 2023. They returned again in February 2026 for the Kkachi class of 2024 and are set to welcome their fourth group from Shinmyeong in July 2026. Plans are also underway to add another orphanage to the Foundation starting in 2028.
For more details on the foundation's beginnings, visit our website’s “About Us” page (https://kkachifoundation.org/about/). For insights into the impact of The Kkachi Foundation on the children’s lives, check out the trip reports from the last three years, which include testimonials from the students themselves:
Nothing could have prepared two mischievous, independent kindergartners or love-struck teenagers to foresee or dream that this would be God's calling on their lives, or that they would eventually be involved in anything resembling missions. However, God utilized the foundation of faith they received at CHS and the exposure to CHS chapel speakers who also followed a calling to missions, to unite them and prepare them “for such a time as this.”