APRIL MEMBERSHIP MEETING LUNCHEON

Wednesday, April 10, 2024 • 11:30 A.M.

Restaurant 604 - 57 Arizona Memorial Drive - Honolulu

April 2024 Newsletter

Above are the participants at the March 13 Strategic Planning Evaluation Meeting at the Outrigger Canoe Club.

Spring Has Sprung!

Spring has definitely sprung and we are enjoying periodic light rain blessings and sunny rainbow-filled skies. Our programs are chugging along as we near the end of this fiscal year, which draws to a close on May 31. If you have some spare moments to help with a program delivery or lend a hand at the Thrift Shop, we would love to have your assistance.

We hope that many of you will attend our Membership Meeting on April 10th at Restaurant 604, with its stunning view of Pearl Harbor. We will be voting on our new Board of Directors and presenting the Proposed Budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Your presence and your vote is important. Voting privileges separate Members from Community Volunteers, so we hope you will exercise that privilege in April.

Speaking of Membership, you will be able to renew your Membership for the next fiscal year by paying your dues at the April Membership Meeting. (See the Treasurer’s article below for details.) As we like to say, “There are many ways to contribute.” Please contribute some of your time on April 10th to help us shape our organization for the coming year.

Mahalo for all that you do.

Spring brings two events to our members, families, and friends in which our members can participate.

First, Spring Cleaning begins with your unused lovely pieces of jewelry. We ask that you do a bit of “Spring Cleaning” before our next membership luncheon meeting on April 10 by revisiting the jewelry you no longer use. We accept costume jewelry and fine jewelry too. We aim to fill the jewelry box on display at the April 10 luncheon.

Members of the Resource Development committee will provide you with a Donation Receipt for your jewelry pieces. Should you need help picking up your jewelry pieces or special handling of your fine jewelry, please get in touch with Mary Li, Linda Andersen, or Gloria McGehee-Koel, and we will gladly arrange a pick-up.

The Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Assoc. will host the Oahu Charity Walk on May 4, 2024. Charity Walk is a perfect opportunity for Assistance League members, their families, and friends to participate in the annual Oahu Charity Walk. The Charity Walk plans to include food tents and entertainment along the 5.2-mile route from Magic Island through Waikiki. Assistance League of Hawaii members, community volunteers, partners, and families can participate in the Charity Walk event on May 4, 2024, in one of four ways:

1. They can walk with the Assistance League team during the Charity Walk on May 4, 2024.

2. They can sponsor a college student from Chaminade University or the campuses associated with the University of Hawaii systems. The goal is for a minimum of 10 university students to represent Assistance League of Hawaii.

3. Assistance League members can solicit from businesses or family members to donate to the Hawaii Tourism and Lodging Association to support the Assistance League team.

4. They can serve as course marshall volunteers at the Charity Walk event to ensure smooth implementation and encouragement to the walkers.

A recommended donation for participating in the Charity Walk is $50 per person over 18; however, we appreciate any amount. Should you choose not to walk and wish to sponsor a college student, please make checks payable to Charity Walk 2024 - Oahu. Hawaii Tourism and Lodging Association sponsorship deadline is May 1, 2024. The total award to Assistance League of Hawaii will be the Charity Walk grant amount plus all donations made to support Assistance League Hawaii.

Note that all sponsorships and direct donations are tax deductible. Last year, the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association awarded Assistance League $3,000 for our participation and grant submission.

Online Donation Link

Photo above: 2023 Charity Walkers.

New Budget to be Presented

at April 10 Meeting

The Annual 2024-2025 Budget will be presented at the April 10, 2024 Membership Meeting. Members will have one month to peruse the Budget before being asked to vote to approve it at the May 8 Membership Meeting.

Annual Membership Dues Due

Just wanted to remind everyone that dues are due by the end of May 2024 for next year. They are still $70. Please make checks out to Assistance League of Hawaii or ALH and write “Dues for 2024-2025” on the memo line. You can also give $70 in cash, but make sure you put the cash in an envelope and write your name on it.

You can give them to me at the April or May Membership Meetings, drop them off at the Thrift Shop at any time, or mail them to Assistance League of Hawaii, 1505 Young Street, Honolulu, HI 96826, ATTN: Andrea Cyriacks

Mahalo from the Strategic Planning Chair

Thank you to all our members who attended our Evaluation Meetings on March 13. We had over 40 members attend with outstanding ideas.

I will present the results at our May meeting. A special thank you to our hostesses Laurelyn, Jane and Mary for hosting the events.

Nomination Committee Announces

Next Slate of Candidates

The nomination committee met to develop a slate of candidates for the 2024-2025 Board of Directors. Purpose of the meeting: To recommend Assistance League of Hawaii members for Elected Office and Chairmen's positions for the 2024-2025 fiscal year and present the slate of nominees to the March Evaluation Strategic Planning Meetings.

Members of the committee: Trish Kiladis Chairperson

Margie Van Swearingen, Jaye Devendra, Marge Fabre, Ginger Fujimoto, Ku’ulei Pai. The following people consented to serve on the 2024-2025 Board of Directors.

• President – Mary Monohon
• President-elect – Gloria McGeHee-Koel
• Vice President – Helen Taufa’asau
• Secretary – Trish Kiladis
• Treasurer – Andrea Cyriacks
• Education – Dianne Girard
• Finance – Nancy Sparacino
• Marketing/Communications – Linda McColgan
• Resource Development – Mary Li
• Philanthropic Programs – Hazel Sumile
• Strategic Planning – Cathy Kissel
• Thrift Shop – Peggy Monell and Sharon Ehrhorn

Helping Empower RYSE

The Outreach Committee has donated items to RYSE (Residential Youth Services & Empowerment) for their branch in Kawailoa and for their newly opened Waianae branch.

Their mission is to provide a continuum of support and services that empowers Hawaii’s street youth to move beyond homelessness.

RYSE envisions a community where there is no youth homelessness. Since they opened in June 2018, RYSE has continued to strive towards achieving their mission of eradicating youth homelessness in Hawaii and empowering young people to build a foundation for life-long well-being. In their first 5 years, RYSE has achieved proven, significant results, including:



• Providing emergency shelter for 523 youth, ages 14-24
• Diverting 82 youth from incarceration or residential mental health care
• Providing 47 youth with permanent supportive housing resources
• Providing 16 youth with permanent supportive group homes

In 2022 RYSE served 359 of Hawaii’s homeless youth with 58% transitioning to long-term housing. They have a drop-in availability to their youth centers any time from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, to use their facilities free of charge. Services available include: hot showers, laundry facilities, hot meals, food pantry, WiFi, hygiene and toiletry supplies, clothing, and other products.

The youth are also able to meet with RYSE staff to receive agency referrals.

Operation Wildlife’s Wrap-Up

and New OWL Stickers

The Operation Wildlife (OWL) Team of Volunteers will be wrapping up the Oahu schools with our final visit to Kalihi-Waena Elementary this Wednesday. With 21 Oahu schools and the neighbor island schools, we will have visited 53 schools this year, plus Molokai! Yay, OWL Gang! What an accomplishment!

Something new this year, as a result of a collaboration between Linda McColgan and her Marketing Committee and OWL, are accomplishment stickers that are being sent to students who met the goals they set for themselves to take care of their Aina! The Owl/Pueo image is featured on the sticker along with the Assistance League of Hawaii logo.

A small group of OWL volunteers got together at Betty Parinas' home to get the stickers ready to mail. Betty, Linda Andersen, Ginger Fujimoto, Hazel Sumile, and Sheri Sunabe had a fun time while doing this important work.

We are hoping the students who receive the stickers will like them as much as we enjoyed getting them ready to mail. Go OWL Team!

We’ve Stepped Up Our Game

Over 2,500 Operation Wildlife (OWL) stickers were created in partnership with Hazel Sumile and Betty Parinas. These stickers are being used as a reward for those students that complete their 2-week OWL commitment. 

Our 30 second radio spot is now playing on KINE and KPHW radio stations! Mary Monohon and Gerri Migita have also recorded a 60 second radio spot that should start playing soon. Make sure to turn your dial to 105 KINE or listen on your computer www.hawaiian105.com. The spots also air on Power 104.3 FM. Our 30 second spot has also been posted to the Assistance League of Hawaii Blog.

Carlos Romero, our radio station contact, is now a happy shopper too. He placed a bid and won! He is also asking his daughter to become a student volunteer since he believes in what we do. You never know where we will get new customers!

With this in mind, please continue to share our business cards with new people you meet.

Assistance League of Hawaii was featured in the latest news from the Retired Seniors Volunteer Program (RSVP). We are fortunate to have a couple volunteers through this program and with the article we hope for more! Click on the image below to read the short article from their newsletter.

Three Cheers for Our Thrift Shop Member Volunteers

If you are one of our “seasoned members’ and have not been to the shop in the past year or two– you will be pleased to see all the new faces working downstairs and upstairs. We have been very fortunate to have wonderful new members and volunteers join recently.

However, we would like to remind everyone who these “seasoned long timers” are as they have laid the foundation for what we are today. The ladies listed below joined in the 1980s and 1990s. You may know some of them.

• Marti Frensley (1983)
• Louise Frye (1983)
• Barbara Anderson (1985)
• Liz Benton (1992)
• Betty Harrell (1994)
• Darlene Zickefoose (1994)
• Raynette Scruton (1995)
• Dot Mason (1996)
• Betty Parinas (1996)
• Shirley Rebello (1999)
• Margie Van Swearingen (1999)

Mahalo to the following….

Diann King for displaying her organizational skills in the craft area, providing a big help to Sandra Nada.

Jim McClelland for fixing our floor tiles upstairs.

Patti Schulz who brought her visiting sister, Sharon, to work in the shop.

Mysteriously an “Assistance League of Hawaii Menehune” organized the kitchen shelves and drawers. This was long overdue!! At least 15 rolls of wax paper, foil, and parchment that we will never use was put out for members to take, along with some unexpired food cans that had been donated. Thanks to our Menehune!!

April 2024 Thrift Shop

Cashiers’ Calendar

Submit Your Service Hours

Turn in your monthly service hours to: alhservicehours@gmail.com Enter your first name, last name and the hours you worked (please do not enter any text – just numerical hours).

If you have any questions please respond to the email from alhservicehours@gmail.com or email Linda McColgan at linda.mccolgan@hotmail.com.

We are looking for someone to help with the recording of these hours. Most of the members now respond to the email and only a few minutes are needed to collect the remaining hours. Please let Linda know if you are willing to help with this. Mahalo!

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