Our Valley Santa Clarita 2017 October | Page 22

INTERNATIONAL ENTREPRENEUR MAKES SIGNIFICANT DONATION TO SCV SENIOR CENTER NEW BUILDING CAMPAIGN Recently, the SCV Senior Center New Building Campaign announced that over $450,000 had been raised since February – moving our community closer to groundbreaking on the new SCV Senior Center and bringing the total still needed to be raised to $1.3 million. A significant portion of that sum was donated by Steve Y. Kim, owner of Sand Canyon Country Club – formerly Robinson Ranch. Kim came to the United States in 1976 to achieve the American dream, working in a warehouse during the day and attending school at night in his pursuit to earn a master’s degree in engineering. Five years after his graduation, Kim started a high-tech garage-based venture in the San Fernando Valley; it was a remarkable success. Kim then started his second venture – Xylan – which became one of the fastest-growing companies in Southern California. Kim sold Xylan in 1999 for $2 billion. After remarkable entrepreneurial success in the United States, Kim moved back to Korea in 2007 in hopes of discovering a meaningful life’s purpose. That soul searching led to his creation of the DreamHopeFuture foundation, an organization committed to improving the lives of children in need. “Robinson Ranch also gave me an opportunity to improve lives,” says Kim. The former country club had suffered dramatically from extreme drought. “When I saw it, I was determined to turn it around,” says the entrepreneur. Kim has thus far invested millions, as well as seven-days-a-week effort, into revitalizing the property, now called Sand Canyon Country Club. The property will boast a 200-room resort hotel with a spa and wellness center, swimming pools, tennis and pickle-ball courts, a gourmet restaurant and much more. PAGE 22