Assistance League of Hawaii Regular Membership Meeting
Wed., May 10, 2023 • Buca di Beppo, Ward Centre - 10:30 am
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Transforming Lives - Strengthening Community |
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Welcome New Members: At our April Membership Meeting, they are from left to right: Mary Li, Mary Monohon (Vice President- Membership), Victoria Flint, Nancy Moyer and Ginger Fujimoto.
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Time Flies When You Mix Work and Fun |
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This year has flown by, and we are preparing for our last Membership Meeting and Luncheon of this fiscal year on May 10. (See the Hospitality article below.) We hope to see many of you there, as we will be voting on the proposed 2023-2024 Budget and installing our Board of Directors and Appointed Chairs for the coming year. And, of course, we will hear about our continued contributions to the community through our programs.
The 4th Annual Visitor Industry Charity Walk through Waikiki will take place on Saturday, May 6th, and we all have an opportunity to either participate personally or sponsor one of several UH students who are walking on our behalf. This is a fun and delicious event and a way for Assistance League of Hawaii to raise grant funds. Contact Gloria McGehee-Koel at gmcgeheekoel@gmail.com for more details.
Our chapter has initiated a campaign with RightGift to raise funds and elicit donations of new school clothing needed for our back-to-school efforts for Operation School Bell. We have created a wish list with RightGift, and anyone can help us to fulfill our needs by clicking on the button below. You may want to share this link with a friend or relative, as a way they can contribute from the comfort of their homes.
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A huge mahalo to all of our members who have worked so hard this year, administering our philanthropic programs and helping us to raise funds through our Thrift Shop and other fundraising activities. We have truly made a difference in the lives of many, many children and families throughout the state of Hawaii. The U.S. Department of Labor currently estimates the value of a volunteer hour to be $31.80. However, we all know that the hours you spend with this organization are priceless.
Mahalo for all that you do.
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Charity Walk 2023: You Can Donate |
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There still is time to donate to the Visitor Industry Charity Walk, of which we are a member charity. Click on the photo link above that takes you to the Assistance League of Hawaii donation page on the Charity Walk website. You can also TEXT Oahu2330 to phone number 71777.
The Charity Walk will be held on Saturday, May 6 starting from Ala Moana Beach Park.
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May 10 Meeting to be Held at Buca di Beppo |
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The May Meeting and Luncheon will be held from 10:30 to 1:00 on Wednesday, May 10 at Buca di Beppo Restaurant at Ward Center - 1030 Auahi Street, Bay 1/ Honolulu, HI 96814.
Free Parking is available in the Parking Garage. Parking tends to fill up, so carpooling is advised.
The menu is served family style as follows:
Fresh Baked Bread
Salad - Mixed Green and Caesar Salad
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (Meatless or Gluten-free will be provided if requested.)
Baked Ziti
Chicken Parmigiana
Dessert - Mini Chocolate Chip Cannoli
Unlimited Soft Drinks, Coffee & Tea
Deadline for sign up is Monday, May 8th at Noon
Cost is $32.00 per person
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Sum Volunteer Hours for this Fiscal Year |
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Please remember, May is the last month for which volunteer hours will be recorded at Assistance League of Hawaii for this fiscal year.
Whether you work on one of our many programs, in the Thrift Shop or other at-home tasks, it is important to count your hours every month. Please send me a log of your hours, including meetings and transportation. Add up all your hours for May and send them promptly to vandwfay@mac.com.
All volunteer hours will be included in the grand total for Assistance League of Hawaii.
Mahalo!
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You’re Invited to be on the
Strategic Planning Committee
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You are invited to join our committee! Both experienced members as well as new members are welcome. Many of the ideas in the summary from our Evaluation Meetings, distributed at the April Membership Meeting, will be put into an action plan. Perhaps you would like to be part of planning for one year and be involved in our Five-year Strategic Plan, helping our organization stay current and plan ahead.
What type of commitment will that be? Four inspiring strategic planning meetings will be held during the year, and the year ends with our evaluation process in members' homes.
We offer a chance for you to tell us your ideas. Perhaps you have new ideas. Perhaps you have thought about some strategies and would like to see them come to fruition. Join our committee this coming year; be part of a one-year action plan, and help to create a Five-Year Strategic Plan.
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Membership received the 2023-2024 Proposed Annual Budget at the April 12, 2023 Meeting. The vote to approve the Budget will be taken at the May 10, 2023 Membership Meeting. |
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More than 1,700 people were touched by our popular OWL presentations for 4th graders at Hawaii's schools. We were also gifted a new batch of biofacts by the BYU-Hawaii Museum of Natural History. |
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This year Assistance League of Hawaii’s Operation Wildlife (OWL) program was made up of 16 volunteer members. Some member volunteers visited multiple schools, while others visited one or two schools. Whatever their numbers were, each volunteer gave us their valuable time, and were all greatly appreciated!
OWL volunteers visited a total of 26 schools on Oahu, Hilo and Maui. They touched 1,786 children and adults. We found that, in several of our schools, because they know what to expect, the numbers of adults in attendance were pretty large. Goes to show that even adults find the information and the biofacts fascinating!
Some big changes were made to the OWL program these past 2 years. They included changing the presentation over from a slideshow to a video, and cutting back on the number of biofacts brought to the schools. A few of the old-time teachers commented about the smaller number of biofacts but, as they said, the children didn't know the difference and they thought it was just wonderful!
The experienced teachers commented about the video as well, using words such as "very engaging and thought-provoking", "Love the new video!” “so engaging and great visuals", "informative and inspirational". It was unanimous that the biofacts continue to be "the best part of the program.” Students were able to feel and touch things that they normally would not otherwise see, and "being able to touch them was really a treat" commented one teacher.
For the member volunteers, being able to watch the children as they viewed the video (wincing when they see the picture of the sea turtle covered with warts and growths) and interacted with the biofacts was very rewarding. One little boy on Maui said, “I had a stare-down with the turtle and lost!” He then fell backward onto the floor, prone!
Several children told us they love their school because of stuff like bringing us to visit them. They quipped that this was better than recess! For one school, we were “the replacement field trip" for the quarter and the students just loved it!
We hope to visit more schools next year and are looking for more volunteers to assist. Please think about possibly joining our group and come see for yourself how much of an impact you can make on the upcoming “Stewards of our Aina."
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BYU-Hawaii Museum Donates Biofacts |
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Hazel Sumile, Dr. Phillip Bruner, Betty Parinas and Linda Andersen at the BYU-Hawaii Museum of Natural History with the bear and other wildlife. |
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Three Operation Wildlife (OWL) volunteers, Betty Parinas, Linda Andersen, and Hazel Sumile took a road trip out to BYU-Hawaii on the North Shore community of Laie to visit the BYU-Hawaii Museum of Natural History. They met with the museum’s curator, Dr. Phillip Bruner, and obtained a few “gifts” from the school, which is dismantling its museum and the collection this summer.
The ladies were fascinated by the displays of all the “real” animals (the huge polar bear, brown bear, moose, small animals, birds and more) that have been taxidermied by various people and students, as well as by the Dr. Bruner himself. Betty Parinas was surprised by how many of the animals she had known back in the old OWL Zoo days.
Assistance League of Hawaii was gifted with two turtles that are in great condition, as well as a boxful of furs, feet, and other “stuff”! We sincerely thanked Dr. Bruner and his staff for providing Assistance League of Hawaii with such an opportunity to see this fabulous collection as well as to be entrusted with some of its specimens.
The newly-donated specimens will join our collection of biofacts that are used as part of Assistance League of Hawaii’s Operation Wildlife program and shared with 4th grade students around Hawaii during each school year.
A big mahalo to BYU-Hawaii for their generosity in sharing their priceless collection with us.
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Mahalo To Our Chairs And
Member Volunteers
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A big mahalo to all the Chairs of our Philanthropic Programs as well as their committee members who did an outstanding job for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Our programs have had great success this past year and will continue their efforts during the coming summer months.
Operation School Bell: Laurelyn Berger and Andrea Cyriacks
Kokua Clothing Boxes: Mary Monohon
Literacy Services: Carol Hasegawa
Operation Wildlife: Hazel Sumile
Outreach: Miho Teipel
Share: Karen and Marty Kehoe
We Care: Linda Tsark
In addition to all the direct services our volunteers provide to our keiki and families (both on Oahu and on our neighbor islands), it is amazing to hear about many of the behind-the-scenes activities that take place to make sure that everything runs smoothly. For example, on a recent Wednesday morning, several volunteers worked at the Thrift Shop rearranging and organizing the storage areas for some of our program items, that need to be stored until ready for delivery. It took a lot of effort and cooperation to make it happen, but now our Malama Bears and Lullaby Layette Packages have a dedicated storage space, and our OWL suitcases, filled with biofacts, are easily accessed and stored safely and ready for the next school year.
We Care has been busy with the following activities (all just since the last newsletter):
-On March 28th Carol Jones delivered 41 layettes to Kapiolani Hospital.
-On April 5 Linda Tsark delivered blankets, t-shirts, underwear, socks, deodorant, backpacks, and hydro flasks valued at $1,172 to Youth Outreach
-On April 19th Linda Tsark delivered 60 Malama Bears to Daniel K. Inouye Elementary School in Wahiawa.
-On April 24th Reiko Stiver delivered 162 bracelets valued at $257 for Shriners Hospital's Treasure Chest.
The success stories about our programs are abundant!
Here is one about our Share program that Marty Kehoe shared recently. Did you know that Kokua Kalihi Valley Family Housing Project takes our deliveries of clothing, school supplies, games and toys, etc., and puts them into a large warehouse? Then, every three months, they have a “Community Event” for 500 families living in the Federal and State sponsored high-rise apartments. All of the donated items are placed on shelves, racks and displays and the entire community comes in and takes whatever they need. All of our items donated from Assistance League of Hawaii are given away free of charge to these families. What is more satisfying than to hear about how we help this community!
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Business Card Campaign Continues - Love Our Social Media |
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Thank you to those that participated in the drawing held at the April Luncheon. Margie VanSwearingen was the lucky winner and she will receive a free lunch at our May Member luncheon. I heard that over 15 volunteer members participated in the drawing, which means that at least 75 new people received our business card and learned about our organization!
If you would like more business cards to have on hand you can find them in the Marketing file drawer in the Ohana room or contact Linda McColgan at (206) 715-7069. Distributing business cards is a great way to spread the word to the community!
I recently took a Marketing training class via National Assistance League and learned that there is more we can do on Facebook.
Our Marketing Committee is trying to post on Facebook several times a week and many of you “like” what we post. The training indicated it would be even better if you “love” our page or use some of the other reactions; not just “like” Also, if you insert a comment that is even better. Behind the scenes Facebook is looking at these reactions and it may help promote our site even more. In case you didn’t know, other reactions include “funny”, “wow” , “sad” and “angry”. If needed, you can change your selection after you submit a reaction.
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A Busy April of Sales and Clean-Up |
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The Thrift Shop had a very busy April. Thanks to those who sorted, priced and displayed our huge donation of Japanese dishware and decorative items, including many pieces made in Occupied Japan. Thanks to those who helped with our clean-up day in mid-April. All the downstairs storage areas were cleaned out and reorganized to make room for program supplies, and Bert’s Room has never looked so good. We have several lovely pieces of furniture, artwork, dishware and decorative items being delivered to the shop in the next two weeks. This should help us to have plenty of good sales days during May, so we can end our fiscal year with a bang.
We had several of our regular Thrift Shop worker bees out sick during April, including Sharon and me, but everyone seems to be getting healthy again. Thanks to those who held down the fort in our absence.
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We all know and appreciate Arden Moore, who does such a great job with our jewelry donations. However, most of us are unaware of the time involved in sorting, organizing, cleaning and displaying our fine wares. Separating the “junk” from the good, distinguishing between costume and fine jewelry, taking the fine jewelry to our appraiser, polishing fine items, tagging all pieces, and displaying everything on the shelves in our jewelry cases literally takes many, many hours…..every week! Arden has a room of her home dedicated to storing and working on jewelry for the Thrift Shop. Kudos to Arden, and many mahalos for a job well done.
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Thrift Shop Days & Hours:
Tuesday & Thursdays 9:30 am to 1:00 pm
Saturdays 9:30 am to 3:00 pm
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Thrift Shop Cashiers’ Calendar
May 2023
Don't miss our May 10 Member Meeting
Buca di Beppo, Ward Centre - 10:30 am
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Newsletter Editor: Melvin Ah Ching alh@macprohawaii.net
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