If you think models are all about looks and glamour, you probably have not come across Arumhwe, a supermodel volunteer club.

Meaning “a gathering of beautiful people doing beautiful work,” Arumhwe consists of around 100 members who hold regular jobs -- models, home-shopping hosts, and educators -- besides positions at Arumhwe.

This isn’t your everyday volunteer group.

“Only those who have competed and won an award in the Asia-Pacific Supermodel Contest (hosted by SBS) can join the club,” said chairwoman Han Chang-suh in an interview with The Korea Herald last week. Han also works as a host for the local home-shopping channel CJ O Shopping.

Arumhwe was established in 1994 when the supermodel competition, the biggest of its kind in the country, marked its third anniversary.

“At first it was just a social gathering aimed at promoting friendship between senior and junior models. But after a couple of years, we thought, ‘Why not do something socially meaningful instead of just meeting and talking?’” Han said.

Since 1996, Arumhwe, has been doing volunteer work mostly at child care facilities in and outside Seoul.

The club makes mothly visits to facilities like Chunsungwon, a welfare center for physically handicapped children in Daejon, and others that are affiliated with the Social Welfare Society Inc. It also serves as an ambassador for the non-profit organization Community Chest of Korea.

The members decide on their future projects at their bimonthly meetings, according to Han.

“We talk about what kind of projects they are, and further, what kind of ripple effect they can bring (to society),” she said.

Alongside actual volunteer work, the organization throws fundraising fashion shows and bazaars to fund their projects.

The members’ good deeds were recently recognized with an award by the Seoul mayor for contributing to the success of the Communnity Chest’s “Hope 2010 Warm Winter Project.”

What has kept the supermodels so devoted?

Members say that on top of feeling a sense of fulfillment and achievement, they find consolation in watching the children who receive their help make progress. Also at least, they are able to forget their stress while doing volunteer work.

“At Chunsungwon, there is a boy who always wears a helmet for health reasons. We’ve seen him for about five to six years, and now his condition is much better. Watching his health improve made us feel so good,” vice chairwoman Ahn So-ra said. Ahn teaches modeling at Daeduk University in Daegu.

But challenges also exist, with the biggest one being schedule conflicts.

“Arumhwe activities tend to be scheduled three weeks prior to events, but models -- particularly those who belong to a management company -- usually book their jobs very unexpectedly. So, it all comes down to the question, ‘which one is the priority,’” said Ahn.

Yet most members gladly prioritize Arumhwe works over their main jobs, even when they have to give up opportunities to earn money, she added.

Fighting the stereotypes through which models are viewed is also difficult and sometimes hurtful, members said.

“Some people think that we live a glamorous life and run Arumhwe just for show, but really, that’s not true. I think most of us try to place Arumhwe activities before anything else to prove those prejudices wrong,” said Ahn.

However, volunteer work does not always give them a sense of satisfaction. Sometimes they feel frustrated, she confessed.

“There was a girl at a child care facility that I used to keep in touch with for more than three years in the past. I offered her my best emotional and material support -- I was only 20 at the time -- but later was really hurt because after some time she began to demand more and more material things from me,” vice chairman Ohn Mi-jung said. Ohn, the winner of the 1996 competition, now fosters young models at modeling agency Model Center.

With about 15 years of local community service, Arumhwe has taken deep roots as a volunteer club on its own. Han said that if the club had remained a social gathering, it would not have lasted this long.

To do their volunteer work more efficiently, the chairwoman said Arumhwe was taking steps to upgrade the club into an official non-profit organization.

“I think we haven’t thought of turning our club official before, because we started as an informal low-profile gathering. But nowadays I think if we do our volunteer work as a formal group, we can do so more systematically and make better use of our talents as supermodels in helping those in need. Especially, we hope we could support the education of poor children,” she said.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.